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Recent content on TheNocturnalSilence.deHugo -- gohugo.ioen-envoid@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)Mon, 25 Jun 2018 12:30:52 +0000Ralph S. from Ultha and Plankshttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/ralph-ultha-planks/
Mon, 25 Jun 2018 12:30:52 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/ralph-ultha-planks/
I am a huge fan of both Planks and Ultha. And Ralph, the creative head behind both bands, is a unique person with a deep understanding of music and many things beyond. He‘s 38 years old, became obsessed with music at the age of 12, finding his home in Dark Wave, extreme Metal and Punk early on through a Sisters Of Mercy/The Cure/Alice Cooper/Metallica mixtape from a French exchange student. A stolen bass to learn New Model Army songs was his start at age 14 to teach himself to play instruments.
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I am a huge fan of both Planks and Ultha. And Ralph, the creative head behind both bands, is a unique person with a deep understanding of music and many things beyond. He‘s 38 years old, became obsessed with music at the age of 12, finding his home in Dark Wave, extreme Metal and Punk early on through a Sisters Of Mercy/The Cure/Alice Cooper/Metallica mixtape from a French exchange student. A stolen bass to learn New Model Army songs was his start at age 14 to teach himself to play instruments. At the moment he works as a secondary school teacher teaching Philosophy, English, Drama and Music. He was born and raised in southern Germany and resides in Cologne at the moment.

We started a conversation in August 2017 about his bands, the scene, politics, diy-ethos, literally everything. This chat ended in June 2018. And this is the result: an intense and detailed interview.

Welcome Ralph. It is a real pleasure to have you answering my humble questions. I have a lot of respect for you because of your great taste in music, looking behind the horizon of metal and your musical output as well. Please forgive me that some questions might already have been asked since I wanted to compile a complete round-up about you and ULTHA. So let’s begin long before ULTHA was founded. Your last band PLANKS already had some slight black metal influences. There even was a promotional sticker on one of your albums describing the music as “Darkthrone and Mastodon playing songs by The Cure”. So was it just a logical consequence for you to start a ‘real’ black metal band?

Hey Chris, thanks for having me and also for the kind words. I appreciate it. Well, “looking behind the horizon of metal” sounds great, but actually, what does that even mean? I think, I just don’t limit myself to just one genre. Never have, never will and I always felt appreciation for musical development. I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a “metal head” in the classic sense, because metal was always just one of many styles of music I particularly enjoyed, even it may be my favorite in the long run. But in the last months that interest isn’t as high anymore, because a lot of development and attitude in this scene in recent years is plain boring or upright stupid to me.
But back to the topic of being a metal-head: I feel, being considered a full-on metal head requires a lot of dedication and even lifestyle. Since I have interests in so many different art forms and musical styles I guess this isn’t the appropriate term for me. Also I fucking hate dress codes. Nonetheless I do consider myself a huge metal enthusiast, especially for the darker and heavier genres, and I have been a fan now for nearly 27 years.

There is a lot I dislike about classical, obsessive fandom in music: I hate narrow-mindedness and this is still a bigger issue in broader parts of many scenes, especially the (black) metal underground. But on the same hand, I hate trend hoppers who change their style according to the most popular band and genre at the moment – a major issue a lot of German bands have. For me music needs to be a free expression of a feeling you want to get across. By limiting yourself to a set of laws some purists dictate or imitating the hippest style a lot of artists restrain themselves from creating true, passionate and heartfelt art. If you really feel this passion and fire the more traditional black metal bands had, and you execute it with a fierce, unrelenting power, then it’s authentic and totally fine by my definition. Mostly it’s more about image, being extreme in one way or another or imitating what has being termed the law. This is not what I want for me or my band.

The sticker you refer to was a promo line on Funeral Mouth, Planks’ third album. It’s actually a quotation from Greg Anderson (SunnO))), Southern Lord). Southern Lord re-released Planks’ second album The Darkest Of Grays and he was interested in releasing the third album. When he heard it he was honest enough to say he didn’t like Funeral Mouth because it sounded to him like the sentence we quoted. That’s fine and I have only respect for Greg. He is a great guy. But he is very much into keeping music close to original patterns the genre grew up with. So naturally our more pop-elements sounded horrible to him. His focus is unrelenting brutality in music – mine isn’t.

About the black metal influences on Planks you’re right: after our first album every Planks record had a few nuances, most clearly audible in the use of an occasional blast beat or tremolo picking. But it never sounded like a full-on black metal record. Black metal to me was always a feeling, an aura and a certain way to arrange melodies in a disharmonic and cold way that still sounds most beautiful in its entirety. Ultha is way closer to a ‘regular’ black metal band than Planks ever was, but what seems to make Ultha unique is the way we use classical patterns and musical aesthetics and blend them into something interesting. At least that’s what people keep telling me. In the end it’s the same as with Planks: The mixture of influences and to dare to do exactly what you deem appropriate for your musical goal should be the only law musicians work by, not a strict code of norm dictated by purists.

Okay, that was my fault. I never classified you as a “metal head” for myself but as a person who lives without the boundaries of a specific style. But since you made this point clear, everything is fine… In our last talk you already classified the difference between your influences of black metal on Planks and those direction i.e. Tombs took. You said that you didn‘t like the way your brothers in mind developed on “Path of Totality”, using too much black metal elements. Now you have started a full-blown band of this style by yourself, but do not want to follow the puristic code of conduct.

Well, it’s not that I dislike Tombs’ black metal elements. Their approach was pretty cool back then. I just liked the mid-tempo, more atmospheric elements better. Their first EP and Winter Hours will always be my favorite part of their catalog. But from there on Planks and Tombs developed into completely different directions. Mike is a close friend and I think he is a fantastic songwriter, so I will always support Tombs. He’s a man striving for individuality and musical evolution, two things I think should be a key element to every bands’ art. If you check out Tombs’ current record and compare it to Converging Sins there are almost no similarities even though our mindset is often alike. Ever since they started recording with Ruthan, their sound is really dry and sharp. I love reverb and that’s almost non-existant in Tombs on their recent full-lengths. But that EP Sanford Parker recorded, that was a killer release in sound and songwriting. And Parker LOVES reverb.

When black metal started, it was an antithesis towards the commercialized death metal. Putting danger and romantic back into a harsh music. But over the years the genre became more and more toothless. Where the early pioneers of the second wave tried to start something new, made experiments with sounds and influences, most black metal bands today try to maintain an ancient cliche, to fulfill certain rules that they think black metal consists of. The progressive and forward-thinking genre became a lot a copy of a copy of a copy. Nevertheless there are still manifold definitions on this kind of music. On the one hand it is the purist kind of view. Keeping the music simple, monotonous, repetitive, hypnotic. But there are other descriptions as well. Some guys say it‘s all about a satanic point of view, other may stay to the romantic vision of heritage or just pure negativity. So what‘s your definition of “black metal”? Is it a bleak, gloomy atmosphere, build up with minimal and repetitive arrangements?

The funny thing is that everything goes in circles. Trends come and last until a genre is completely drained with mediocrity. That’s what has happened to death metal in the nineties and black metal brought something fresh to the table. It was almost punk in a way and that’s what a lot of those old bands were: They were almost anarchistic with a “fuck off” attitude like GG. But now black metal is so popular and brought so many mediocre bands in the third wave/fourth wave that death metal is becoming the “new hype”. So yeah, now black metal in 2017⁄2018 has seen everything and was transformed into the oddest shapes and forms. If you can or should still call that “black metal” I don’t know. But I also don’t see myself being the guy to determine “This is black metal and that is not” and I don’t care. No one should. But still there are so many people doing so. I met some guys who praised their band as the true heirs of “The Black Metal”. They told me Ultha isn’t a black metal band and it made me cringe. I asked what they based their judgment on… their answer was we didn’t look metal. Enough said.

As stated earlier I just look for an authenticity in the music and the overall appeal of a band. I prefer bands that take classic black metal patterns and transform them; bands that dare to see what feeling black metal has for them and transform it into something unique. Take Horseback’s “The Invisible Mountain” for example: It’s an Earth styled country record with shrieking vocals, an odd mixture for sure. But if you listen to it, it brings the same bleakness and dissonant harmony the Scandinavian forefathers had.

Ultha isn’t as far away from classical Scandinavian black metal as Horseback is. We rather take the repetitive approach a lot of the American bands from the West Coast use. I just like this best, because it resonates with me the most and since I write the riffs for Ultha this is kind of what I bring to the table. If the others dig it, they give feedback, so we as a group make our own thing from this recipe. But we don’t back down from writing an all-slow song or even a more wave-pop kind of tune (see Mirrors In A Black Room). We do what we feel brings across the atmosphere we want. I guess that’s why a lot of reviews said the we mix the Scandinavian style with USBM and a have a unique touch to it. Since we write this music primarily for ourselves it’s okay that a lot of purists think we suck. We’re not satanic, we’re not occult, we’re certainly not “true” – I guess being called punks, due to our background (what we’ve often heard as an attempt to insult us) is a compliment after all, because we know what we want and fight for creative freedom in this genre we love so much.

That‘s an interesting point. You said you prefer the bands that take classic patterns of black metal and transform them. And in other interviews you said that you try to compose your songs using the very popular pop-music pattern. The same applied to Planks as well. And as you said, you are not afraid of writing more wave-pop influenced songs as well. Well, that‘s no big surprise as you are a huge fan of dark wave and post-punk. Bands like New Model Army or The Cure had a major influence on you and your style. And the last time we met you went to see the great Fields Of The Nephilim. Since Planks already had major influences of this kind of music, why did you choose to start a black metal band? Is it the more aggressive touch that metal adds to the bleak and melancholic atmosphere?

That Ultha is my band right now and we play this style of music is a mere coincidence. The idea was born between Jens, our first guitarist, and me. He’s one of my best friends and the chemistry we have in writing music together is unlike anything I ever had before. We bounced ideas for about 100 projects, and I guess all of them could have worked, but then our drummer Manu moved to Cologne. Most of us in Ultha knew each other for a long time before starting this vessel, since we played shows together with our old bands. Manu was always one of my favorite metal drummers and just a fantastic human being. When he moved to Cologne I nailed him down to a band before he had a flat in this city. For Jens and me it was clear, if Manu moves to this town we need to finally do the black metal band we wanted for so long.

Metal mostly doesn’t really feel aggressive to me. I think a lot of punk and hardcore is way more aggressive. And I don’t talk Sick Of It All here. Take Catharsis, Poison Idea, Talk Is Poison, Black Flag and likes, they mostly “out-aggressive” any metal band. They rip. But the intensity and fury some metal does bring feels cathartic to a lot of people. As said before, the black metal I grew up to love wasn’t super brutal, but it had a sharp, ripping edge and an almost punk mixture of melody, attitude and drive. So all these styles kind of intertwined here. Since, in comparison to death metal for example, black metal has this melancholic, dark and nihilistic undertone to it, I was reminded of my first Sisters Of Mercy mixtape I got from a French exchange student in 1992. In retrospect it’s hard to distinguish what came first: The chicken or the egg. But well, these styles just all touched me in similar ways. By chance I ended up playing in bands since I got my first bass with 14. Here I am today, still playing this loud and gnarly music that means so much to me. Believe me, I tried to do different bands forever, but I just never found the right people to do it with. If Manu hadn’t moved here, Jens and I probably would’ve started a Cocteau Twins / The Chameleons styled band. Who knows. But I love what I have in Ultha: A group of five individuals who all share a widespread taste and knowledge in music, willing to experiment and aim for feeling and atmosphere as well as giving a fuck about public opinions and trends. That’s all I ask for.

That leads to a very delicate topic: Black Metal in its second wave had a lot of punk attitude. It was born as an anti-statement against commercialized death metal and cut down the music to minimalist and reduced vocabulary, focusing everything on a cold and bleak atmosphere. In this reduced instrumentation it is very close to classic punk-rock or hardcore. Even the first pink edition of Mayhems “Deathcrush” with this cut’n paste layout might have some nods to those genres as well (see “Evolution Of The Cult”, Dayal Patterson). And Euronymos was an avowed communist too. But those references were rapidly forgotten and right-wing scum flooded into black metal; the scene had a bad reputation for many years. In recent years, starting with Weakling and Wolves In The Throne Room, more and more left-winged bands entered the stage and formed some kind of new anti-statement.
Generally this does not seem to be a deal for most people in the scene – metalheads tend to be “apolitical” and to tolerate NSBM-bands as long as they enjoy the music. But in Germany it seems to be an important topic. As far as I noticed, you were part of a “Left Black Metal”-Feature in Deaf Forever Magazine and many interviews think of you as a political band. But on the other hand the internet social justice warriors did not understand that you share stages with alleged right bands and did not leave the stage to them alone. So how do you see the development of political backgrounds in black metal in general as well as the specific importance of this topic in German media?

To quote my brother Chris Grigg (Woe), let’s call it for what it is, Nazi Black Metal. NSBM always sounds too distinguished, almost sophisticated and fancy. Fascist and racist ideologies are not a “point of view”, they’re a shame and a crime. I hate a lot of things and I hate a lot of people, but this is due to them being humans and acting accordingly, with all the shit people tend to do. I don’t fucking care what skin color, sexuality or history they have - I judge people by their actions. Our species was born with the ability of rational thinking and self-reflection – it would be great if some of these halfwit bigots would use this ability now and then. So, simply put, fuck Nazi Black Metal!

To say you’re “apolitical” is a very political statement in itself. I explained this in the this feature in Deaf Forever you refer to. This all kind of put us on the path we ended up on this April. It was intended to be a special about black metal bands that don’t have a traditional background or message. I mean look at the other bands in that special, like Antlers, Sun Worship etc. We all (well, at least most of us) grew up in a mixed universe of metal, hardcore and punk, a world where politics and DIY attitude played an important role. But none of us are “political bands”. We’re political people playing black metal. That’s probably the biggest difference from a traditional scene where “being apolitical” is the consensus. Somehow this special then was received as collection of political black metal bands. Ultha, as Planks was before it, is a mere vessel to express my emotions; the lyrics are about this mess I call my life, about the human mistakes I make/made. I would never have political messages in my songs, as this is just not what drives me to write. But still I live in this world of injustice and living hell to so many. I grew up as an outsider filled with disappointment and running from mistake to mistake. At some point I realized I can’t change my path, so I gave up. But in that moment I figured I can help others not going through this hell, so I started working in educational sciences full-time; help others help themselves. That’s where most of my energy goes – and my own mess is being dealt with by tragic lyrics and sad songs.

As for “heritage”: I couldn’t care less about being German. This has no implications on my life. It’s a thing of chance we were born to the parents we have in the place they live(d). So judging someone because he was born in a different part of the world is superficial and hollow. I like living here, but I would also like about a dozen other countries. I appreciate nature, food, culture etc. and I like what Germany has to offer in this segment. But I’m not a one to praise traditions and old values – I just see mistakes people made. Fascism is such a mistake that will always haunt us, that’s why the Nazi black metal issue will always be such a problematic and disgusting topic, especially in Germany. It’s important to address this issue and never forget.

As you said that both Ultha and Planks deal with your very personal issues: You suffer from depression, as I read in another interview. I know that this is a very complex yet sensitive topic. Although there are many affected people in society, it is still some kind of taboo. But you used your music as a channel to express the darkest of your feelings. PLANKS used to be your diary. And I think it is a perfect illustration of this illness, the bleak and gloomy atmosphere you created with your lyrics. As you write all the lyrics and music for ULTHA and use personal issues as topics as well, would you consider your new band as a continuation of your diary in another form? Isn’t it challenging for your main singer Chris to express your stories/lyrics?

It’s definitely a continuation, as it is the only thing I feel the urge to write about in both music and lyrics. Dealing with this consumes a lot of time and energy, but creating music and writing lyrics eases things to a certain degree. I could write about political issues. I mean, look at the fucked up situation this world is in. It’s a bigot shithole. There are a million things to write about. Today it kind of feels more terrifying and urgent, more surreal and sickening as ever before. Maybe it’s the omnipresent force of media pushing all the negatives onto you; maybe it’s just that humanity is more selfish and maniacal as it has ever been. But I can only try to control this very small bubble I live in, and that’s already hard enough for me. So I try to get this out of my system by creating art. I feel this is the last revolutionary, counter-societal act of resistance in my life, where on all other levels I seem to have slightly given up.

Being on stage or creating this music is cathartic and yet it’s so two-faced. Nowadays everything about me feels this way, everything has two (extremely different) sides: I write these very personal lyrics about the way I feel isolated and driven by failures, I cut off hundreds of contacts and friendships over the years; I spend most of my time at home trying to avoid people – But then again I have another person sing my words, work as a teacher, drive in a van for hours with others and play to hundreds of people with a very extroverted live show and do a lot of social media for the band. It’s weird, but it helps to keep things in a balance. Also, and that is probably the best part the bands gave me, I enjoy conversation with like-minded people who come up to me, chatting about my lyrics or how this illness affected their lives. People tattooed lines I wrote onto their body and wrote letters to me, thanking me that I gave their misery a voice and a soundtrack, that I saved their lives. That’s why I started being very honest about my feelings in interviews very early. You know, Ultha might not be a revolutionary band, and Planks wasn’t either, but I know both bands were honest to the core in their doing. That’s what I cherish and that’s what distinguishes this small percentage of bands in this genre I admire from the 95% of the rest. Yes, some of these 95% are not stupid imposters of the 90ies in Norway but bad ass musicians or lyricists, still they lack authenticity and feeling.

When we started this band Planks was still around. I knew my voice was fucked up beyond repair and that I would have to keep my vocal contribution to Ultha small. I had severe problems with my job, and as much as I despise this having priority, my voice in this job is my paycheck. So when Chris said he wanted to try and then delivered these (now perfect) screams I knew things would be different. We tried writing lyrics together, but that didn’t work out. But Chris said he’d be okay with singing my words if a) he can relate and b) it would be okay with me. Since he is one of the only people I consider a true friend and trust that he gets what I’m trying to express I can live with him doing the major part of the lyrics.

What made you deal with your illness openly in interviews? I know some other artists suffering from depression and taking much creative energy out of it, but do not speak publicly about their mental condition. There are some minor moments in history, when there is a social awareness of depression: When a popular singer or football player commits suicide everybody cares about it. But after a couple of weeks this topic becomes a taboo again – except you play in a depressive suicide black metal band and use this illness as some publicity trademark…

Here again I feel there is a lot of facade in play. Being depressed is a good gimmick to make you look real deep and intellectual. When rather quiet souls, as Chris Cornell was, decide to end their lives, of course the press has a hard-on for that and a lot of people too, so they can start their R.I.P.-post marathon, “because they have always been fans”. This doesn’t help anyone, because an open talk about the topic is not possible in gossip-land. There is no sustainable development here, because as you said right, after a few weeks it’s forgotten again. This topic is a taboo, as the norm dictates that it’s abnormal and religion still has the moral high-ground to stigmatize suicide to the worst crime a person could commit. Pretty insane when you see all that’s being done in the name of some false idols. It’s all still very surreal and affected people can hardly find any decent help.

My father is a roughneck and my family pretty uptight and conservative, even though they’re not religious at all. Whenever I tried to address this topic at home I just earned rolling eyes and “it’s just a phase - depression isn’t real thing” kind-of statements. So this in a way pushed me out into the open, sharing with others. I tried therapy twice and quit after a few sessions. It felt like having sex with a prostitute: For your money you get a short time of a seeming relief. But since I knew the person needs to earn a living, it felt I only get served stuff from a playbook to get me going. There was no honest feeling behind it, no real interest. So for me it wasn’t real and therefore a waste of time. But I had great talks with total strangers who came up to me at Planks shows and now also with Ultha. They said, they admired my openness when it comes to this topic; that the music and lyrics I create made them feel cradled and understood.

The thing is, what I do isn’t that hard (I think), because I actually just openly state that I suffer from depression and that it dictates my almost every doing. I have art to give the feelings I have in my heart a face I couldn’t explain otherwise. But I only rarely discuss details about my symptoms, how these phases fuck me up and how ruined big parts of my 38 years on this nutshell were/are. But that alone is an almost unbearable task for a lot of people suffering from depression. I work as a teacher and before that worked with teenagers in youth centers for almost 15 years. There I learned that a straight forward, honest and open approach leads to the best results and most positive learning developments. So this kind of seems to be my thing: Talk to people about the shit I deal with, without really telling too many details, yet offering enough to share an open interaction. If I can’t save myself maybe I can help them to help themselves.

As for my state: I’m not suicidal, I haven’t been for a very long time and I’m glad this seems to be done for good. But there is not much I see in the future, at least not for me. Henceforth the “You Exist For Nothing” leitmotiv Ultha uses.

Well, hopefully you see some “sense” in your current therapy (playing in honest and dedicated bands) for the future and give your audience some hope and understanding. But let’s come back to the topic of our interview: You said you started ULTHA because it was a consensus between you and Ultha’s original second guitar-player Jens. Unfortunately he had to quit the band due to personal reasons. You had another guitarist temporarily filling in before Ralf joined the band. I think everything started out as a couple of friends dedicated to music (in general) that had one similar vision. You knew Chris and Manuel from sharing stages with Planks and played with Andy in Curbeaters as well. So how do you think the current line-up of ULTHA still maintains the original spirit? Is the other Ralf just a “fill-in” or is he a complete member of the “inner-circle” as Jens was before?

Let me start this answer with a correction: Curbeaters was a project with Andy and two other members of his then existing band Blindspot a.d., as well as Geb of Black Shape Of Nexus and me. At least that was the plan. There were talks and exchanging of ideas, until it came to a single rehearsal weekend, where the three songs were tracked that came out this year, a mere 15 years later. I wasn’t able to make the rehearsal so technically I wasn’t part of the band. I was supposed to play bass, so Andy recorded those tracks. I ended up doing the vocals last year, because Andy started his Goblin Sound studio here in Cologne and he wanted to close this chapter. So yeah, technically Andy and I didn’t play in a band before. But as with Manu and Chris, we knew each other from shows and a message board. But we all come from the same background: We were all raised on metal but touched the DIY hardcore/punk scene and embraced its ethos, spirit and general ways of functioning independent without restrictions. We all set up shows for bands or helped in venues. We got to know tons of people over the years and that helped us immensely when we started Ultha.

Jens also comes from this background. I first met him in person when his grind band Kurushimu played with Planks in Koblenz. There was an instant chemistry and we bonded over the years. I have played in bands for 20+ years now and I never had a writing partner I could work with in ways as with him. I had an idea, played the riff, tried to explain what I thought would be a good second guitar – he then just shushed me and said “something like this?” and it was exactly what I thought or even better. I had a lot of good partners in music over the years, but none like Jens. I assume we could even start a 90ies dancefloor act and it would work. Also we get along on so many levels that he is one of the only people I call a real friend, someone I would trust with my life. It always hurts that we hardly find the time to hang out, it hurts even more not being able to continue this idea we founded together. But his reasons to leave Ultha were severe and out of his or our control.

I guess it must be really hard entering a band that his already at the stage Ultha was when Ralf joined. We were a clique and we have a very strange humor and the general chemistry is also special. So you’ve got to give cudos to someone daring to enter this vault and being able to cope with this. Ralf did it to the best of his abilities but recently we decided to let him go. It just didn’t pan out in the end.

Over the years in all major bands I played in there were personal shifts. That happens. Health or family always comes first and I mean now we’re all around 40 and work full time. Priorities change and therefore the availability to do a band to such extend. For me personally it’s always weird when the original line-up changes. It doesn’t mean that sometimes it’s less good. I had both positive and negative experiences when it came to this – nonetheless it just never felt like the “original” that started it all. Maybe here again the topic we addressed before comes into play: I’m a hopeless nostalgic and tend to romanticize memories.

Well, that is a point that you share with most metalheads: Beeing hopeless nostalgic and stuck in the past, haha! But I think that is quiet normal since everybody romanticizes his memories. I’ll get my records straight that you never played with Andy in a band before. But you do now and he is also the guy that records all the Ultha stuff. On one hand it makes things easier for you to track new ideas and get them ready to publish. But isn’t it a flaw on the other side as well? I mean it may be an advantage to have a person from the outside that brings his very own opinion into the sound of a band as well. This is at least my experience that a sound technician helps a band in the studio to work out on several parts as he was not involved in the song-writing and as his own, unbiased view on the greater all.

I guess you’re right about there being two sides to this, but then again it depends on the musician. See, I like to keep control of what my band sounds and also looks like. Often I feel like being too dominant in this role, but I still talk to the others, get feedback etc. But mostly I wish I could do everything by myself. I have a clear view and vision of how a record should look and sound like. Problem is, I don’t have skills in recording or with Photoshop. So I let other people do that, but it has to be a person I really trust. Also they need to know and prepare for what they sign up for. This meaning that I will tell them pretty straight forward what I want, which sometimes narrows down creative freedom for them. And let’s face it: all these people are artists themselves with their own creative vision and I’m the one to tell them what to do (sort of) – that’s exactly what I would never tolerate from others… unless, I have tremendous respect for them. And here is the point why we decided to only work with friends of the band. They know how I operate, how we as a band work, that they get what we want and are willing to accept this framework. But to be considered a friend of the band, you have to be honest, emphatic and daring at the same time, because only then a truly creative dialogue can start. If you look at the list of people we work with, you find people who know what our aim is, are willing to take all our ideas into consideration but dare to say “sorry, this won’t suit you, but how about this?”. We built our own little network Ultha microverse.

Andy is the best example when it comes to this. He recorded our debut, as we’ve known him for years. The chemistry was there and he was just a perfect fit, able to expand what we did with his ideas in the studio. That’s why we asked him to join the band eventually. Now he knows exactly how Ultha imagines and approaches both a song and records. We have long talks about references in sound and approaches to recording. But he is strong enough to differentiate between his role as musician in this band as well as studio engineer. At first it was tough for me to accept that he actually “dared” to say that I should change this or that in my sound. But then all the evolutionary steps in sound from the first LP to the now third album prove that he was absolutely right. In consequence he also learned to accept, that I have a pretty good idea about how this band should sound and he was willing to take two steps into my direction as well. In the end there is denominator which ends up being Ultha and therefore fairly unique in sound.

So why should I sacrifice that for some engineer on the outside? Sure, there might be people who’d deliver a great result, maybe even so good I would say I’m 100% cool with it. But it’s risky – and expensive. Andy is always learning, always expending his knowledge on recording and therefore we try out things. Now that he has his own studio we’re even more free to try things play with sound. So again, why sacrificing this chance? It’s pretty much everything we all could hope for.

It is no secret, you took your name from the short story “the cats of ulthar” by mighty Howard Phillips Lovecraft. You removed the letter “r” for both reasons not to get confused with other bands with the same name (or the label) and to have a symetrical name that fits into a logo. And it is no secret either that you do not play “lovecraftian” music. For me it is a pitty that today Lovecraft is reduced to Cthulhu. There are so many other aspects that form his dark and desperate stories. Take “The Outsider” for example. That could easily be transfered into a modern context, about self-perception and other philosophic views upon oneself. Do you think Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe had a major influence on you or did they just put your very own vision of this world into words you can identify with?

Well, we’re definitely not a “Lovecraftian” metal band. As much as I love his art, lyrics about cosmic evil and old gods are just not my thing. What very much is, is the feeling of an omnipresent thread, a lurking fear and a constant melancholia that define my every impression of life as it is. Dread and gloom; it’s this feeling that no matter how hard you try, the horror and drama will find you in the end and you will lose. With Lovecraft it’s this feeling that we are as humans are actually a joke, a sort of experiment which is being watched and assessed, just to be annihilated in the end. With Poe it’s his infinite strive for love, his almost maniacal appreciation of beauty and the resulting fear of failure and rejection. All these motives just reflect how I see my life after 38 years of stumbling and falling forward. That’s why my right arm has portraits of the two of them and a whole sleeve full of images inspired and dedicated to their work.

And you’re right, as cool as the whole figure Cthulhu is, there is so much more to Lovecraft’s universe. My favorite story will always be “The Rats In The Wall”, which again brings up the image of something that is larger than our mortal human life and that there are forces we can’t fathom – a typical Lovecraftian construction also to be found in the form of Cthulhu and other old gods.

To stay on topic about Lovecraft: He was a quite controversial person – at least if you look behind his stories about cosmic horror and get to know the person behind. Lovecraft was a racist and wannabe elite. I think his view on other races might result in the Zeitgeist of his era. And his elitist behavior is founded in his tragic family history. But nevertheless those aspects might be difficult nowadays. May we enjoy stories of a racist? Must we have a sophisticated understanding of his life, his social and contemporary environment? Or may we easily enjoy his fantastic stories ignoring the person behind?

This to me is the same debate I had a gazillion times about whether or not you can enjoy bands such as Burzum or Death In June (just as the two most well known and publicly discussed bands when it comes to topic). It’s the question if you can separate art from artist, which in the end is everybody’s decision to make. I really don’t want to engage in this topic anymore, because everything has been said and there will always be people disagreeing on this, which is perfectly fine with me. It’s just the atrocious way that both extremist sides try to convey their truth and view is the only view acceptable. What remains indebatable are two things: First, the importance of such controversial artists to the development of their respective genres and second, that racists and fascists are still the worst scum of the earth.

Okay, enough about politics. Let’s have a look onto another controversial topic: The scene. In the early days of black metal many bands floated over from death and thrash metal into the this new style as it became increasingly popular. For sure there were many hardliners who despised those bands. But nowadays they are widely accepted despite of their origin and background. For ULTHA I have the feeling that there are a lot of people liking your music, yet still do not consider your music “black metal”. Maybe because of your background in hardcore and grindcore bands. Or maybe because you take your influences from US-American black metal, which does not seem trve enough? And on the other hand there seem some purists from the hardcore-scene who do not appreciate your current band playing black metal. How do you see your perception from both scenes? Do you think you are treated special because of your development or origins? Especially in Germany?

To be perfectly honest: I don’t give a rats ass if people think we’re this or that. People who feel the urge to be scene police and judge can go and shove it. I used to care a lot for this, but I guess by this point in time I’m just too old to give a shit if someone sees me as true or phoney. Most people judging me or this band are 10-15 years younger and have no idea about my musical upbringing, about how much this music has had an effect on me for how long of a time. They judge me and Ultha for the way we look or what we say, that we have a political position but say that Ultha is and never will be political means of communication. The hardcore scene doesn’t give a shit about us, as they did for Planks or other bands we’ve been in, because we weren’t hardcore bands. But we had fans and friends in this scene. If we have to classify where we come from, I’d say the political DIY underground. And yes, a lot of people from our past in this scene judged us for going where they think no one with a left wing upbringing should go. But as stated before, these guys were mostly people behind their keyboard running their mouths, moralizing us through their very strict and narrow view on things and apply them to every scene, which is not the right way to do it.

Same goes for the so-called underground elite in Black Metal. I don’t care for trueness, as it’s a phony concept dictated by people with a narrow view of what is possible. I have no problem if they see things their way, but their judgement doesn’t affect me. When I was 13 in 1993 I was blessed to see enormous shifts in the musical landscape, shifts I only have rarely witnessed at a later point. Black Metal was happening and taking over, the Grunge wave became immense with authentic emotional rock music and in Rap music the Wu-Tang Clan brought a sinister dark vibe to a musical genre I mostly despised for being too “happy”. I absorbed all of this and was intoxicated by this feeling of “something truly great is happening here”. I absorbed tons of different bands and they changed my life.

Now, some 25years later I still feel that not much has had an effect on me like these years and I always return to these records. I’m certainly not true to any scene whatsoever as in being a purist, but I sure as hell am a nostalgic (we spoke about that before). I take influences from all these scenes and the hundred other records from different genres that massively impressed me for being something unique and authentic. I think Ultha takes patterns from different genres and uses it to write music conveying exactly the feeling we want to get across. So yes, there are moments where we sure as hell don’t sound like a Black Metal band, but it’s the overall vibe that counts for us. I only strive to express what I feel and this in a most authentic way.

All those bands right now that claim to be trve just copy what happened in Scandinavia or in Poland, blocking out all this great music happening all over the world. When the time has come you will be able to play our third record you will hear, it’s a heavy and complex (black) metal album, but the sound, the variety in songwriting etc. is not derived from listening to Mayhem or Drudkh. Not that I don’t like these bands, it’s just that The Cure, Christian Death, Alice In Chains, Depeche Mode or Nirvana had and have more influence on my songwriting than any metal band ever… aside from Weakling and Ash Borer maybe.

You might be a nostalgic person. For sure there are some reminiscences of classic black metal in the sound of ULTHA as well. But most notable are those references to the more “modern” interpretation of the genre from US-American bands like Weaklings, Wolves In The Throne Room or mainly Ash Borer - as you said by yourself. How did this movement with black metal influence your style?

When WITTR came out they just had this very authenticity I spoke about a lot in this interview. These guys were no fools jabbering about rituals and whatnot. They wrote fantastic songs with great riffs and a tremendous atmosphere. It all feels very gloomy, dramatic and real. And Weakling were their forefathers as Ash Borer are their ancestors. All these three bands mean the world to me. Especially Weakling. This one record is just everything black metal to me should sound like. It takes the classic approach and enhances it with something very gritty, very urging a lot of Norwegians lacked. Also, especially Ash Borer in their earlier days, or Fell Voices, used the repetitive approach for their songwriting, which just resonated so well with me. I love to get lost in a song and just feel my brain wandering off. That’s what a few of these USBM had to offer, in-between an ocean of mediocre copycat bands as you find in every country.

As US black metal established as a very own interpretation of this extreme music, there are other interesting movements as well. Maybe the kinda hyped Nidrosian wave, the recent Icelandic invasion or the unique French approach. What do you think about those trends and developments?

The only one I partly care for are the French. Island and the Nidrosian scene all play very well, but are very traditional in my opinion. There is not a lot that resonates with me. Of course, it’s always posh to speak about a scene as a whole, as there are so many people and bands involved. But most of the popular bands from these two scenes to me sound like stuff that was already done in the late 90s when this scene was completely watered-down. But for example the Icelandic Wormlust offshoot Ljáin released two tapes that blew my mind.

The French have Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord, two of the strongest vessels in this genre. Especially the Memoria Vetusta trilogy by Blut Aus Nord are among the best records I have ever heard in this particular style of music.

I totally agree at this point. Blut Aus Nord’s “Memoria Vetusta” is an incredible awesome cycle. But I also like the more abstract work on the “777” albums as well. An beside Deathspell Omega I might also mention the baneful Aosoth or the psychedelic Way To End. But this is not the point of this interview. So let’s continue with ULTHA. For me it sounds like you had a clear vision of your sound and message you want to create and deliver. Was this the reason you never released a demo before your first album “Pain Cleanses Every Doubt” came out? Or to be more concrete: You just published some rehearsal recordings on Soundcloud, but didn’t release them on a physical format.

Sound no, message kind of. But then again, I don’t think Ultha has a message or agenda in itself. When Jens and I started writing riffs we just tried stuff out and kept what felt right. There were a lot of different types of riffs which sometimes didn’t really suit our feeling, so we neglected them. The first four songs on the debut just felt right to us, but from my point of view nowadays, they are not a real unit, unlike Converging Sins is or the new record will be, which has just been recorded. We’ve definitely grown as a band and derived our own style by now, or at least what feels most natural to us. It was the same with Planks: The first record is kind of different in its overall feeling and sound from the rest of the back catalog.

As far as the demo goes: We wanted to release a demo. But all that took so long that we ended up just putting out the two rehearsal demos on CD for our first shows. The recording for the debut took place shortly after, so it made a proper demo release obsolete – even though I hate it that we didn’t pull through.

As far as I remember, you told on on of your very first shows that Tartarus Records were supposed to publish your demo on tape. But this never happened. Was there any special reason about it? Or did you want to focus the attention on “Pain Cleanses Every Doubt” at this point already?

See my answer above. It was two labels involved but it just took forever, so at some point we just skipped the idea.

Two labels should have released your demo? Although it might be interesting to hear which was the other one I think it is quite irrelevant nowadays. So let’s go one step further: Your debut was initially released by Matt and Ecocentric Records. Since he already released the splits by Atka, the former band of your drummer, and the “Left Us As Ghosts” compilation, it seems to be a logical continuation of your cooperation. Did you ask Matt to publish “Pain Cleanses Every Doubt” or did he ask you when he heard of your new project?

Well, Pain Cleanses Every Doubt was actually released by total of four labels! We had Vendetta for vinyl, Tartarus for the tape edition and Eccocentric Records teaming up with Wolfbiker Records to handle the CD. Later it was even released by Translation Loss in the US. So this makes five labels. See, all people behind these labels, aside from TL, are long time friends of ours: Stefan of Vendetta I’ve known for years and I always wanted to work with him. Since vinyl was our first priority I spoke to him first. After that, in my hierarchy are tapes and of course my go-to guy is Richard from Tartarus. He released stuff for Planks as well and he is one of my best friends. Then we thought about the CD version, if we needed one at all. But since the market for metal clearly has a demand for CDs we said we’d go for it. Matt of Eccocentric not only worked with my old band before, but also with Manu’s old band Atka. Also he actually has a harsh noise/drone project together with Manu called XQM. So again a no-brainer to ask him. He released other CDs before in cooperation with Wolfbiker Records, which is run by Arif, and who again has been a long time friend of mine and Manu. And that’s kind of the spirit we kept up to this point, to keep working together with people we know and admire on a personal level, as long as we can. It has something immensely satisfying to it, if you create art and all people involved with this art being presented and made available are people you have close ties with. I assume that’s the kind of philosophy we derived from our years in the DIY metal/punk community, where personal bonds always outlast business relations.

That makes totally sense. But your second album was published by Stefan of Vendetta in both formats, CD and LP. Was Matt / Ecocentric not interested anymore? Although he recently published a repress of your first album?

I’m sure he was, but he only randomly does vinyl. And we thought that Stefan has more experience with distributing a record to a broader audience. Also he just really struck a nerve with me and he’s a real friend now.

For me Vendetta made an interesting development. I got in touch with them during the neo-crust hype, but they delivered awesome stuff from hardcore and grindcore as well. In recent time they shifted more and more towards black metal. With both of you starting in a diy/hardcore environment, developing into black metal, it seems to be a good home for ULTHA as Vendetta participates from your growing popularity as well.

As with a bunch of smaller DIY labels Stefan changed what he released over the years. But if you continue to put out the same bands all the time, it’s likely to get stale. Sometimes I do have a problem with such development in labels, as it is comparable to what I said about some trend hopping bands from Germany. And boy, do we have some of those labels as well. Horrible. But even in times where he put out Alpinist or other crust stuff, he released crushing doom records and he put out the Ash Borer demo as well as a Fell Voices record years before these bands got attention from the German underground. So if black metal is what he digs most at the moment, it’s cool with me. Stefan is the most authentic guy I know. I mean, he’s a grown man… almost a senior… and he always listened to metal and all other kinds of things, so if anybody calls him a trend hipster it’s just blatantly stupid. I kind of do hope he falls for his Anne Clark worship and starts releasing bands in this style.

He and us share a mindset and that is what made it super special when he said he wants to put out Ultha in the first place. When we found out he works as precise and reliable as we do, it made a perfect match. I’m really glad this thing with Ultha grew to such extend that, in returning the favor, Vendetta got more exposure through us. It doesn’t matter that we changed label now, he will always be our brother, who is the most amazing person and who operates with a 110% passion.

You switched to another label? May I ask where’s your new home? I think there was some serious interest from more trve metal label…

There actually was and by the time this interview will be out it will be official that we will be working with Century Media Records in the future for full-length records. This doesn’t mean we are done with Vendetta. Not at all. Stefan is still our brother! We will always support him and his label as well as work with him to some extend. There just were some interesting perspectives in working with a label of this level. But the people behind CM who approached us and work with us now really fit our picture of people we trust, even though there is a business aspect to it now. Nonetheless this all wouldn’t have happened if not for the massive support from Stefan throughout the whole time Ultha has been around.

First of all congratulations on your new deal with Century Media. But what do you mean that your cooperation with Stefan isn’t over yet? Are you going to publish split-releases and singles via Vendetta while Century Media has focus on full-length albums?

Thanks. I can’t say much about the form this may have yet, but we would never completely cut ties with Stefan. That was one major aspect when we spoke about a deal with Century Media and they respected our wishes.

Ultha grew in terms of popularity but as well in terms of song-writing. We already talked about approaches of writing pop-songs in a black metal context. But usually popular music fits into a 3:30 radio-play edit. Ultha on the other hand exceeded this mark on their first album already, constantly extending the running time of your songs. On “Converging Sins” there were two songs exceeding 16 Minutes mark and “The Seventh Sorrow” from your split with Paramnesia runs for over 18 Minutes. But although there are many repetitive and minimalist elements in your music, you still keep those long tracks interesting and exciting. Why do you think the length of your songs grew over the time? Do you think that doom bands like Switchblade or Kongh influenced you in this aspect?

See, and this is exactly what I mean when I say we write pop-songs: It’s the effect that you dive into the song, drown in its atmosphere, feel like you get the idea and want to hear it until the end – our songs are just way longer. We operate with bringing back parts and melodies, like pop bands do in a chorus; we have melodies that appear again and again throughout a song, sometimes straight, sometimes in variations. It just keeps you focused and is like a red chord guiding you through the piece. Paramnesia write songs in about the same lengths as we do, but their approach is totally different: they keep adding different riffs with similar vibes, thus creating more like a river, where our songs are a more like a Maelstrom, pulling you in. In both cases the idea is to get the audience in a mood, a journey in their mind. Switchblade, at their peak, were way more stubborn and bleak – Kongh never appealed to me. For me it’s more like listening to the Cocteau Twins or early Fields Of The Nephilim, but played in a voice Emperor and Neurosis gave me.

Those long running times may give you more space to develop the atmosphere of a song, to tell your story with your instrumentation. But don’t you think that such long tracks might be a challenge for your audience? Especially as you used the almost 18 minutes long “The Night Took Her Right Before My Eyes” as opener for your last album. And it might become a challenge for you as well, trying to fit into a usual time slot of a regular concert.

I mean, we used to open with The Night… and there was never a complaint. But yes, it really narrows down what we can do live. We all feel, no set should last longer than 40-50 minutes, but when we play three songs (what we are doing right now) we are close to the 50 minute mark. This is a problem when it comes to festivals, as they mostly do 30 or 45 minute slots. But then again they mostly get our approach and appreciate art, so they let us do our full 50 minute set. A bigger problem is when we have to decide to play a new song, one of the songs people know is going to drop. And I seriously feel people will crucify us if we stop playing “Fear Lights The Path…” live. I know at least one person who would.

In another interview you said: “Stagnation is death – but we’re also not big fans of totally abandoning your initial sound. So for us it’s rather a steady shift and natural progress, where other bands decide to go the extra mile very fast.”I think that can be applied as well on changes in your playlist as well as your progression over your releases so far. But what does that mean for your next album? As far as I know all material is already written? So what can we expect of your third album? What is the steady shift this time?

Yes, it’s written and also recorded. We just need to put some finishing touches to it. It will be mastered soon and then goes to the pressing plant. We aim at a release early October, right in time for our tour.

What you can expect from Ultha is an Ultha record: We have fast parts, we have slow parts, two singers, keys, different approaches to this music and in the end a record which should be for people who liked the first two records as well. Yes, there are certainly things on there we haven’t done before but there are also a lot of things people will call typical for this band. It’s another concept album connected to Converging Sins in its narrative.

With “Mirrors In A Black Room” you (Ultha) continued a habit that PLANKS already established: Creating incredible duets. PLANKS started early with “Forgiveness To Tyrants” and ended their history with the intense “She Is Alone”. “Mirrors In A Black Room” is the perfect development for me. It is gloomier, more fatalistic. And Rachel from ESBEN AND THE WITCH was a perfect choice for this song. Did you already have her in mind while writing this track?

I mean, Ultha in general is a constant duet between Chris and me. But the idea for “Mirrors…” or “She Is Alone” was born just out of the love for female voices and my inability to sing well. There are so many classic duets between a female and a male singer I love, such as “Where The Wild Roses Grow” by Nick Cave and Kylie Minouge. Also Tiamat, a band I was into a lot, had female voices contributing to the atmosphere of the records. In general the amount of incredible female vocalists in my musical biography is high.

To have Leonie sing “She Is Alone” was something special for me, because I love her voice and she is a fantastic human being. But Rachel is something else. I said that in interviews before, but for me Rachel is the best female singer & lyricist in one person. Surely there are people who might be even better in terms of vocal range etc, but it’s Rachel’s way to sing, the intonation, the emotion behind it and also the lyrics she writes that touched me from the first time I heard “Marching Song” many years ago. It was by chance that I met her and the others in Esben at Doom Over Leipzig some years ago. We chatted, I threw in the idea, sent her demos, she liked it, sang and I was so unbelievably flattered and happy she did it. It was surreal to hear her sing my song and even more so to play the song live with her. Now she is a friend and I value her a lot. She is one of the finest human beings I ever met through music.

But I may not forget about the awesome contribution of Joseph E. Martinez to “Scythe Imposer”. As far as I know the only male duet you have done yet? On “The Seventh Sorrow” you contributed some clean vocals by yourself… So no need for an external male singer anymore?

That is correct. No other male duet… yet. But that was insane, too. Junius were close friends of mine and I helped them out with a lot of stuff over here. Their “The Martyrdom Of A Catastrophist” record changed my perception of how heavy music can be so much more. When they asked me how they could repay me, I said, I would love to have Joe sing on a song of Planks. He agreed and made this song 100 times better.

Yes, I try to “sing” a bit more these days, but in comparison to people like Joe it’s a joke. But it works for what it is. It’s more of a means to an end, when it comes to get a feeling across. It worked well for “The Seventh Sorrow” and you will find a comparable part on the new album. But on the new album you will also hear vocals I haven’t done before. We were all a bit skeptical at the beginning, but now we’re happy with the result.

To make this interview going full circle: PLANKS had some great concepts. The triology of your last records or the visual aesthetics with your symbols like anchor and triangle. As ULTHA has an overall concept as well, do you think that there will be a story told over several albums as well? With your sigil for “you exist for nothing” you already made a start.…

Very much yes. Every part of an album has an idea behind it. Lyrics, music and artwork flow together with the concept. And as with the Planks trilogy there is also a connection between the three Ultha records. But I think this time it’s more like a river flowing from one record to the next. Once you hold the new record in hand and are willing to look for clues, you will find the connection. And the idea for the fourth album is already in my head, which would then tie up the flow. We will see if and when this might happen.

Ralph, I know that you never were a fan of giving interviews and hoped that this topic ended with the end of PLANKS as well. So again, it was an honor for me to have you answering my long, annoying and detailed questions. Thank you very much! Take the following void and fill it with your final words for this interview….

Well, I’m not opposed to giving interviews, I just hate answering the same old questions over and over again. You put a lot of thought and work into these questions, also daring to ask challenging and uncomfortable questions. I appreciate this, as I put equally as much thought and work into my music and like if people really look deeper into what my bands do, the words I choose and to give it a context and interpretation of their own. So it felt suitable to do such a long running and in-depth interview. Thanks for your patience and I hope you and the people who read all of this thing here will like the new record.

~Fin~

As this talk was done over the period of over a year, there were two questions that had a temporal reference. But in the end those topics did not seem to fit into the finished interview. For those who are interested, I keep them for the sake of completeness.

You recently completed your euro-tour with Yellow Eyes (26.10.-04.11.2017). When I visited the first show of the tour in Cologne, you told me that this trip didn’t start well for your mates from the US. I hope the rest of the tour went better. Would you mind sharing some impressions of your journey?

It was among the best things I’ve ever been part of since I started playing in bands. I guess, I would’ve said the same thing about the tour with Woe in April, but all the shit that went down got the better of me and it will always be a stained memory. This tour with Yellow Eyes has been incredible on so many levels. The general idea of touring with them already gave me all sorts of chills, as they are among the most important bands I’ve ever encountered in this genre, having a completely unique approach to what they are doing, speaking directly to me through every note and every chord. On the road we quickly learned that it’s also a perfect match on a personal level. I only rarely had such good and deep talks about music, philosophy, life and approaches to art as I had with these boys. The shows were generally great and well attended and it was just an overall great journey.As much as we had a bumpy start to the tour in April, Yellow Eyes tried to out-disaster us, but they pretty much did. Will, one of the two guitar players and also vocalist cut off the tip of his left trigger finger, making it almost impossible to do a proper chord on the guitar. Also the way he plays includes a lot of movement with this very finger, so that was naturally a shitshow. He had plastic fingertip to put on top which only barely made it possible to play. But he is a soldier and pulled through. They flew from NYC to Lisbon and from there to Cologne. Since the initial flight was delayed they missed the connecting flight. Instead of 5pm they arrived sometime around 11pm, a time almost no one still worked at the tiny Cologne airport. This turned into an extra interesting challenge, since the airline lost the three guitars. It took about 250 phonecalls (and I hate speaking on the phone) until they showed up at 5pm the next day, only hours before the first show. So it was stressful, to say the least. Also the customs fucked up, making us leave for tour without any vinyl or CD of the brand new record they were touring in support of. Crazy times, man. A lot of hair lost, fantastic new friends found.

As the end of 2017 was very eventful for you, I totally forgot to ask about your Unholy Passion Fest in the end of that particular year. As a visitor it was a total blast for me. The selected Bands (Unru, Morast, Esben And The Witch and of course Ultha) were fantastic and the crowd was great as well. I would assume that there were about 500 to 600 guests? How was this fest for the end of 2017 for you as promoter and band?

Eventful is putting it mildly. December and January were two of the most stressful months I ever had. But I have almost only good feelings about that show, except maybe the sound issues. There were around 450 people. That’s the maximum capacity the venue holds. So yes, we sold out one of the best and most established clubs in Cologne – a good feeling. I guess, it was primarily due to the combination of acts and the level Esben And The Witch has, but still. We invited only bands we’re friends with and even more friends and longtime supporters came out and showed some love. We had people that came because they could see EATW for a price smaller than they usually charge in this city and stayed to see three metal bands playing. On the other hand a lot of die-hard metal fans stood in awe with a dropped jaw when Esben played. That was the best feeling. We aligned all these bands, because we operate from the same mindset, even though the music is very different. So, it was exactly what I spoke about earlier in this interview: Fuck narrow-mindedness and embrace pluralism and authenticity. There will be a next edition this December and we’re already working on it.

Pictures of Ralph were provided by himself.
The promotional picture of the band is credited to Deathless Pictures.
The cover artworks were taken from the bands’ official bandcamp-profile.
The YEFN-Sigil was taken from the facebook page of the band.
]]>Ungfellhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/ungfell/
Wed, 23 May 2018 19:30:52 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/ungfell/
Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz by UNGFELL 1. Grüezi Menetekel and welcome to my humble webzine. It is a pleasure to feature such an unique band as Ungfell is. Your current album &ldquo;Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenz&rdquo; was just released. But I&rsquo;m pretty sure you already got some feedback from fans and media. For example there was a feature on Invisible Oranges and there are many supporter on your bandcamp profile for your new record.
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Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz by UNGFELL

1. Grüezi Menetekel and welcome to my humble webzine. It is a pleasure to feature such an unique band as Ungfell is. Your current album “Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenz” was just released. But I’m pretty sure you already got some feedback from fans and media. For example there was a feature on Invisible Oranges and there are many supporter on your bandcamp profile for your new record. So how was the feedback and are you satisfied with the reaction so far?

Grüeziwohl! The Feedback has been great so far. Most of the reviews I read were positive and the first pressing was sold out pretty fast. So yes, I am very satisfied! I mean, you don’t do this for the „feedback“ but nevertheless it’s always nice to see that people appreciate what you do.

2. I know, it is an annoying question. But for some reasons I like my interviews drawing a complete picture from the beginning to the current state, from alpha to status quo. So let’s start with the very beginning of Ungfell. Or maybe even earlier: As you showcase an sophisticated style on all instruments you play for Ungfell, I would assume that you already played in other bands before, right? May I ask in which bands you played and why you started your very own band in 2015?

The only serious project that has been going on longer than Ungfell is Lykhaeon which is still active right now. However, I always wrote quite different material too and I didn’t know where to use it. Also, I was a little frustrated at the time because things didn’t progress as fast as I wanted. It seemed natural to me to make my own little project in which I was the dictator and could make decisions as I wanted.

3. Maybe to get a short overview on your skills: For Ungfell you play guitars, bass, accordion, right? With which instrument did you start and what other instruments are you able to play? Did you learn anything new just for Ungfell or did you earn all your abilities in forehand?

In Ungfell I play all the Instruments beside the drums (and the cello on the newest release). I wouldn’t go so far and say that I „play“ the accordion, the hurry gurdy, etc. I am a pragmatic person so I learn what is needed for the record and that’s it. Anyhow, I started with acoustic guitar and then worked my way through electric guitar and bass. before that I played the flute for 8 years. Yes, 8 years. I can play the drums a little but that doesn’t really count.

4. As there are many incomplete and sometimes even false information on the internet, let’s try to clarify a few things. Despite the data on metal-archives.com Ungfell is not only you, but the duo Menetekel and Vâlant. But this seems to be just the current line-up since “Mythen, Mähren, Pestilence”. Infermità was your drummer on “Tôtbringære” and your “Demo(lition)”. I would assume that he was on your split with Dakhma as well? As the percussionists for Ungfell do not get to much attention from the internet, maybe you’d like to tell me a little bit about the history and changes that Ungfell had so far?

Infermità played drums on Demo(lotion) and Tôtbringære. On the split the drum is programmed. I then started working with Vâlant who is responsible for the drumming on MMP. I don’t really know what to tell you more. Both drummers did a great job and their drumming styles fit the albums they’re on. I will keep on working with Vâlant since the work with him went very smoothly and he is a fantastic drummer.

5. Frankly: Although Ungfell consists of two members, it seems that you are the sole mastermind behind the band. You are responsible for almost all instruments, the lyrics, the vocals and even the mixing of your records. So does Vâlant just act as a supplier for Ungfell or does he contribute to songwriting as well?

I guess you could call him a „supplier“ but that wouldn’t do him justice since the drumming is an essential part of Ungfell. Normally I program the drums and then he’ll try to play it as similar as possible. But I am always open to suggestions since I am not a drummer and he is. On MMP there are a few instances where Vâlant contributed some neat elements. I don’t mind if his influence on the drum composition gets bigger as long as he doesn’t meddle with my melodies.

6. As you are responsible for the whole songwriting, you seem to be a total workoholic. The output of Ungfell so far is really impressing. In 2015 you released your demo with six songs and the split with Dakhma which features an almost 14 minutes long track from you (more about that one later!). Your debut followed two years later and just another year past until your second album was released. That is an incredible pace for a sole person writing and recording all those material. Can you tell me something about the process? How do you manage to have such an high output?

It’s much easier to compose alone than in a band since you have nobody who questions you. That’s the beauty of the absolutistic regime Ungfell is. The process is really boring actually. It’s just me sitting around and playing my guitar, occasionally recording something.

7. Writing songs for yourself is one thing - even if its highly impressive to write three different harmonies for guitar and bass plus those additional instruments like accordeon and other medieval stuff. But how do you work out on songs with Vâlant? Do you rehearse on a regular basis? Or do you just write or program his lines and send them to him?As there are several harmonies that are interwoven I would assume that a song first gets into his final shape when everything is recorded… Or do you practice to backing tracks?

Until now we didn’t rehearse at all. But we didn’t have rehearsal space until recently. We do occasionally jam over a few riffs now and then but the songwriting process still happens as it did before. Like I said, I program the drumlines and record everything and then we add the „real“ drums.

8. For me it is quite impressive how Ungfell combines several aspects into its music. You may not be the first band to use folk or medieval elements in black metal. But you include other aspects as well. For example I hear some elements of traditional Balkan music on your demo (“Ex Clada Salus”) or even on the split with Dakhma. And for me there are many references to surf, rockabilly/psychobilly with all those heavy tremolos and reverbs on guitar and the vibe how you execute your melodies and harmonies. And of course I might extend the list of your influences to the end of “Abstieg eines Eremiten” where electronic sounds, ambient/synthwave or ebm comes into a song of yours. So how do you see your influences and how would you describe your music by yourself?

I listen to a lot of different music styles so it comes naturally that you’ll hear them in the compositions. I come from a classical background so maybe you can even hear a little bit of that in the tracks. Funnily enough, I don’t really listen to surf rock or rockabilly but I’ve heard this comparison a lot so I guess it must be true… It’s natural to have influences and mostly they appear without really being conscious decisions. I for myself think the discussion about influences is kind of boring. I mean, at the point where you listen to this kind of music you should be connaisseur enough to make out the influences. I’ll leave it to the recipient to dissect my music into pieces and put them in little drawers so they can sleep at night.
I would describe my music as Black Metal with folk elements. Nothing fancy.

9. What I really like about approach on melodies is how you build up several layers around them. On the one hand it is really awesome how you combine two independent guitar melodies with an outstanding bass lick. For most metal bands the bass is just the supplier of deeper frequencies, but not an individual instrument. So I really appreciate your work on the lower strings.

Thanks man! I always thought it was boring to just do the same thing with the bass as with the rhythm guitar. For me it’s always most fun to record the bass.

10. My very first contact to Ungfell was with your debut “Tôtbringære”. But when “Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenz” was even better, I just had to get hold of your previous material. Thanks to bandcamp it was just easy to put your “Demo(lition)” and the split with Dakhma to my (digital) collection. But that’s somehow funny. Normally a black metal band tries to be elitist, releasing their music only on a limited edition tape. But as far as I know your initially released your demo and your first album digitally, having physical formats following. So you are not afraid of the internet and modern technology?

At first I didn’t think that anyone would be interested in my music. So maybe that’s why I didn’t think like a band would. I just thought let’s put it on the internet and see what happens. In the first place I wanted to put a cross on those releases so I could get them out of my system so to speak.
I also didn’t have the means to release something on analogue format. I am definitely afraid of the internet since it is a horrible place with horrible people but I am not afraid of it because I am what you call an „elitist“.

11. Well, as I finally heard your very first release, I was quite surprised. There are many elements that i knew from your two albums. But for me you were not that furious nor playful on “Demo(lition)” as you became on “Tôtbringære”. And for me you even got more fierce on “Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz”. That’s really interesting, because many bands publish awesome demos and become more calm and calculated with each following release. Not so Ungfell that seem to grow only wilder and more daring with each output. Same for the overall vibe. “Demo(lition)” seems to be more melancholic than your later releases. How would you describe your development and the message Ungfell delivered with each release?

I was in a quite melancholic state when I recorded Demo(lition) so yeah, you’re right. For me it’s hard though to look objectively at those releases. They all have their place and are somehow symbolic of the life I’ve lived in those respective times. But that’s a very personal sentiment. For the listener on the other hand it’s something completely different I guess. For me the sound DID become more calm and calculated. But Ungfell also became more focussed on what it wants and what it doesn’t want to be. So maybe that’s why you didn’t process it as something negative. I don’t know man. I just write the music… As for the „message“… I never felt that I had to spell out a certain message that comes with the music. Ungfell tells tales, the message lies therein. Listen to it, go figure. As for anyone who thinks Ungfell represents some political statement or even fits in your stupid little „worldview“: Fuck off, you’re an idiot.

12. Hmmm… Maybe I have to put into perspective my last statements. Ungfell might became more playful and furious with each release. But “Abstieg eines Eremiten” is the most daredevil song you have published yet. It has the longest running time of all of your songs and it includes even some electronic and ambient moments that give the song an absurd twist. Especially if you compare it to the nightmarish and absyssal side of Dakhma that work with dissonant and repetitive darkness for their monumental 20 Minutes songs “Ascension IV”. First of all: Was “Abstieg eines Eremiten” planed as one long song? To be honest, if I give it a close listen, I hear several cesuras, often introduced with samples that might divide that epic track into numerous smaller ones.

Yes, it was planned as one song. I am just lazy. Sorry about the cuts though, my bad.

13. As mentioned before: “Abstieg eines Eremiten” was a contrast to the repetitive, nightmarish other side by Dakhma. I think you new about this harsh contrast in advance. How where the reaction of this ambivalent picture both bands created?

The split didn’t get a lot of recognition even though I got some messages from people who begged for a rerelease. The reactions where split too (pun intended). Some people liked it because it was so experimental and different, others disliked it because of the same reason.

14. As the split with Dakhma was your first release after your “Demo(lition)” I may ask: How did you get in contact? Was it due to your relationship to the H.U.C.? And may I further ask: What is the Helvetic Underground Committee? Is it about promoting concerts and publish information about the Swiss black metal scene? Is it an occult organisation or more or less just an umbrella to support each other?

We met while at the annual meeting of the H.U.C. on a ruin on top of a mountain. Alternatively we met pissdrunk in front of a McDonalds.
I’d describe the H.U.C. as a creative collective. We’re a few guys whose common denominator is the fascination for (extreme) music. We try to help and support each other by exchanging knowledge about recording, layout etc. We share a rehearsing space and equipment and so on. We are autodidacts who try to do everything ourselves. This approach certainly doesn’t always produce a perfect result but we’re slowly getting there with the years.

15. Did you find the guest musicians for “Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenz” within the Helvetic Underground Committee as well? Or how did you get in touch with Minarsk and Chimael? I assume that you already knew Kerberos, because he also mixed your album afterwards?

I know them from my private life. Kerberos has been a loyal brother in arms for years.

16. You have a close relationship to your home. Your songs deal with Swiss folklore, your are part of the Helvetic Underground Committee and your song titles are partly in Swiss German. As French is another common language in Switzerland, I am not surprised to read “Condamné à Mort” as a song title on “Demo(lition)”. And of course a latin name (“Ex Clade Salus”) fits into the concept as well. But were those lyrics really in French or Latin? Even for those songs with titles in Swiss German you use standard German texts. As you used samples in all three tongues, how important is this aspect of language and unconventional characters for Ungfell?

The lyrics to „Condamné à Mort“ were written in french by me. „Ex Clade Salus“ is written in german. The part about the Swiss German lyrics is not true though. Every song that has a Swiss German title is written in Swiss German. Maybe you confuse it with the titles on „Tôtbringære“ which are partly in middle high German which was spoken in medieval times. Maybe you classified those fragments as Swiss German. The inclusion of Swiss German Lyrics is new on MMP. Switzerland is known for the excessive use of different languages so it was logical to experiment with them. In the future there will be more Swiss German lyrics for sure but I still want to write lyrics in German too. I don’t really know how I will proceed though. Maybe there will be an album just in Swiss German, an other one in German etc. We will see….

17. As said before, previously Ungfell released their material by their own. For “Tôtbringære” you had a re-relrease on tape by Graceless Recordings. But for “Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz” you teamed up with the great Eisenwald Tonschmiede. Were you tired of the totally d-i-y way? Or did you just haven’t had the opportunity to release your earlier material on a proper label? How did you get in touch with Eisenwald? Are you satisfied with your collaboration so far?

I didn’t have the opportunity and I was fed up with the DIY-way. As for how I got in contact with Eisenwald: One day I was wandering through the woods and suddenly I heard a roaring thunder. The clouds parted and from the sky a silhouette of light descended with such grace that it brought tears to my eyes. The silhouette revealed her true form to me which was that of a beautiful virgin. She floated down to me and whispered in my ear the name „Eisenwald“. That’s when I knew what I had to do. Alternatively, Eisenwald contacted me via Facebook.
Yes, I am very pleased with the collaboration so far!

18. Since Ungfell introduced an extremely high pace for your releases, can you already tell me something about the near future of the band? Will there be another new album by 2019? Or would you like to release another split before? What about other formats like an ep?

I wanted to do an EP but I already have too much material… So I guess there will be another album soon. But I don’t want to release too fast and take my time and maybe try something different with recording etc. No idea when the next album will be done.

19. And of course I have to ask another obligatory question: As Ungfell is only a duo, do you play live? Or are you more a band for the studio, writing music and releasing albums?

We don’t play live at the moment. But we are rehearsing in complete formation with session musicians. Maybe we’ll end up playing some gigs, I don’t know yet. Playing live has never been my priority and this hasn’t changed. My focus is definitely on the writing part but if the rehearsals go well and I feel a live setting would work then we’ll give it a shot.

20. Menetekel, thank you very much for your time and answers. I’m really looking forward for the album by Ungfell. And in the meanwhile I will have “Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz” on heavy rotation, as it is a strong aspirant for being one of the best albums of 2018. This is the end of our chat. Feel free to leave the final words to my reads and your fans.

Thanks for your interest in Ungfell. Your support is highly appreciated!
Also please support me because I want to start my own clothing line and beer brand and shampoo products and then I will sign a deal with Nuclear Blast and make terrible overproduced plastic metal and get filthy rich!

]]>Ungfell - Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenzhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/ungfell-mythen-maehren-pestilenz/
Mon, 26 Mar 2018 20:10:49 +0200void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/ungfell-mythen-maehren-pestilenz/
Just one year has past since the amazing debut of Ungfell was released. And now they already published their second album via Eisenwald Tonschmiede. For me &ldquo;Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenz&rdquo; came out of the blue. But it fulfills all expectations that &ldquo;Tôtbringære&rdquo; created. Even more: Ungfell developed their unorthodox approach on black metal to a very unique trademark sound.
First of all Ungfell use a thicker and more powerful production on &ldquo;Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenz&rdquo;.
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Just one year has past since the amazing debut of Ungfell was released. And now they already published their second album via Eisenwald Tonschmiede. For me “Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenz” came out of the blue. But it fulfills all expectations that “Tôtbringære” created. Even more: Ungfell developed their unorthodox approach on black metal to a very unique trademark sound.

First of all Ungfell use a thicker and more powerful production on “Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenz”. It is still raw and cold, but shows more details of the manifold music. And it simply sounds better. So it might be more pleasant to the wider audience that the band will get for sure. Once of course due to the exposure they’ll get with Eisenwald. And on the other hand because this album is a refreshing view on this kind of music, that emerges the masses of nowadays swamp of extreme metal.

The ingredients to this unique blend are still the same. Starting the records with a plain medieval theme, there are plenty of elements from ancient folk on “Mythen, Mähren, Pestilenz”. More obvious in the instrumental interludes - or even the most pleasant medieval track “Guggisberglied” that comes with bewitching female vocals on top. But mostly the folk and medieval aspect comes more subtile into the songs. Sometimes there are decent additional instruments over the grimm black metal music. And sometimes there are whole passages that out of a sudden turn a song into a totally different direction. For example “Der Ritter Von Lasarraz” which turns into a medieval part even before the song really started.

Ungfell uses those elements from folk and medieval music not for themselves but to build versatile yet fluent songs that take various turns without loosing focus. There are incredible riffs that vary throughout a song, develop into other themes and back again to their origins. Everything is in constant flow, full of fierce fire and furious energy. Having this intelligent twists, that keep the tracks exciting despite running times of more than five minutes.

A reason why the awesome melodies of Ungfell are so exciting, full of life and energy may be the fact that most of them are performed polyphonous. In the most simple way there is an incredible harmony on the guitar that gets support by a really good implemented bass line. In the best case there are even two guitars that supplement each other, and that get backed by an outstanding bass lick. And in some moments even some medieval instruments, accordion or cello get into the music as well, providing additional layers to the versatile and vivid music of Ungfell.

Furthermore there are a lot of small details that enhance this already incredible foundation. The awesome exchange between growls and screams. The sudden usage of clean chorals in “Die Heidenburg” or “Die Raserei Des Unholds”. Those small references to surf or psychobilly in the guitar style, using heavy tremolo and reverb. And for me the Swiss/German lyrics that are a perfect supplement to the harsh music of “Die Hexenbrut Zu Nirgendheim” - which still reminds me a lot of the ancient music published on Last Episode Records.

“Mythen, Mären, Pestilenz” is an outstanding album in so many aspects. With fierce fury, obsessed and coy melodies and a kinky groove, Ungfell created their very own style of playful yet hateful black metal. An awesome album.

]]>Desolate Shrinehttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/desolate-shrine/
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 21:00:52 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/desolate-shrine/
Deliverance from the Godless Void by Desolate Shrine 1. Welcome LL. Thank you for your time and answers. Frankly, until &ldquo;Deliverance from The Godless Void&rdquo; I just paid little attention to DESOLATE SHRINE. That was a huge mistake as your recent album just blew me away and showed your immense own profile. Despite that I know a musician is never satisfied with his own work, would you nevertheless say that &ldquo;Deliverance Form The Godless Void&rdquo; is your best output so far and may be a good entry point to gain access to your musical vision?
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Deliverance from the Godless Void by Desolate Shrine

1. Welcome LL. Thank you for your time and answers. Frankly, until “Deliverance from The Godless Void” I just paid little attention to DESOLATE SHRINE. That was a huge mistake as your recent album just blew me away and showed your immense own profile. Despite that I know a musician is never satisfied with his own work, would you nevertheless say that “Deliverance Form The Godless Void” is your best output so far and may be a good entry point to gain access to your musical vision?

Thank you for the comments. I would say that “Deliverance from the Godless Void” is the pinnacle of Desolate Shrine so far. That being said, I have returned to previous albums every now and then and found myself surprised by the songwriting and the ideas there. When you do a new album, you always feel momentarily that the previously made music has lost something or is not “that good anymore”. New always feels and sounds better. I like “Tenebrous Towers” a lot even it´s really different than the rest. I think our best song is on The “Heart of the Netherworld” and even when I made that, I knew I won´t attempt to do part 2 of that.

2. You are responsible for everything behind DESOLATE SHRINE. You play all instruments, do the recordings and even did the artworks. This must be a massive amount of work. So why do you do everything by yourself? Is it about some dyi-attitude or to keep full control of your very own vision behind the music?

Quick answer is that a) I can and b) I might be a control freak.

It is a lot of work. Every time I finish an album and it´s sent to mastering I promise to myself that next time I´ll get someone to help me out with whatever; guitars, mix, recording, artwork etc. And then, after year or two goes by I realize that sure - I want to do things by myself after all. It is at times crushing amount of work and of course stressful as fuck but I never wanted or needed this to be easy.

3. Is there any instrument that you might consider as “your” instrument? That you play best or feel most comfortable with?

Drums, easily. Guitars and bass are mostly at “whatever to make it sound good enough for what I hear in my head” skill level.

4. A logical consequence would be to handle the vocals duties by yourself too. But you involved RS from Cryptborn and ML from Sargeist to sing in DESOLATE SHRINE. What made you giving away the control over this aspect of your band?

I have never tried or wanted to be a vocalist and those really excel at that. It was the most obvious and easiest decision that we made. I also enjoy a lot our recording sessions which are inspiring yet chaotic as hell.

5. With two singers in DESOLATE SHRINE, but a sole person responsible for the music, who is in charge to write the lyrics? Do you write them as you might have a certain vision about the words that support your music? Or do you give ML and RS free hand for their texts?

MT writes all the lyrics and has total freedom about that. We do talk about overarching themes before the writing process starts. I have something I want to tell with music and the lyrics do portray that the best way possible. For The Deliverance from the Godless Void I wrote a bunch of really abstract ideas, keywords, feelings and showed some early ideas of cover artwork which was the fuel for MT. He brings he´s own view and twist to things.

6. You told NCS that your lyrics deal with “To face overwhelming challenges and odds and rebuild from there.”. So I assume that they are very personal and have a real life background?

Yes – you are right. Past two years have been, and continue to be, extremely challenging for most of the band. On a really personal level that is. We tend to write quite abstract music and lyrics at times but there is a really strong and connection to the world and life we currently live in.

7. For the artwork you also said that you want to create a unity for DESOLATE SHRINE, to get a coherent concept of the (un)holy trinity of lyrics, artwork and music. So the cover image represents both lyrics and music and enriches them with an visual aspect. On an abstract level it is fire, darkness and void, that describes the trinity behind “Deliverance From The Godless Void”. I think this fits pretty perfect since the atmosphere of this album is bleak, overwhelming and shows many furious moments. But there is little hope within the music.

Yes, exactly. There must be a connection of those three aspects. I´m tired of albums that has a “cool cover artwork” with virtually nothing to do with music itself. Those (covers are) just separate things put together just because. Especially most of metal nowadays is a cool logo, some mediocre music and cover artwork of some monster or city in ruins whatever. That does not excite me in any ways and for our releases I always try to bring all the elements closer together. Bleak, furious and overwhelming is a really well said.

8. Well, there might be little hope on “Deliverance From The Godless Void”, but in “The Graeae” there is a short interlude where the instrumentation offers a slight moment of light within the baneful atmosphere the rest of the song creates. I really like how you play with contrasts, dissolve the dissonant beginning of the track with this short passage to create an impressive song. Same for the exchange of brutal eruptions and more reasoned, almost calm moments in “… Of Hell”, which also has some hints of hope in it.

For me “the Graeae” became a personal favourite after the vocals were recorded. There was bit of a danger of being too corny or overly dramatic with all the whispering and storytelling –vibe of the intro. But it turned out just great and definitely feels like a way I want to explore more. That might mean that our next material is (even) less traditional death metal than before, or not.

The ending of “…of hell” was something I really worked with. I know that it will finish the album and has to be perfect – to leave a certain impression or feeling after a really hard an oppressive album. It had to be, for the lack of better word, triumphant.

9. Most of the time your music is build with the classic metal instrumentation: Guitar, Bass and Drums. But in very well placed moments you use keyboards to intensify the atmosphere. In one moment more atmospheric, in another more dissonant and baneful. But the balance between the keyboards and the more traditional approach is simply fantastic.

I agree that it works really well. The inspiration from that comes from soundtracks, classical music and ambient where it´s important to create subtle textures and movements. Desolate Shrine is not a minimalistic band in ANY way, but for the synths and keyboards that´s something I kind of aim for in a sense. Or maybe minimalistic is wrong word for this. Spacious, slowly moving ambience is what I´m looking for.

10. Although I use words like “classic” or “traditional” in the last question, I have to admit: For me DESOLATE SHRINE emancipated from most old fashioned genre borders. With the blend of styles between black metal, death metal and doom, and the heavy usage of wide and open atmospheric instrumentation, I see you closer to a contemporary movement that might be called “post-death metal”. You share the same mindset and musical vocabulary as bands like Ulcerate, Ulsect, Departé, Beyond Terror, Beyond Grace, etc.

I do not really disagree with you. I want to point out though that these bands or this genre is not something I´ve listened myself so it is mostly coincidental! Like stated before, I love soundtracks and ambient stuff in general a lot and it always felt like a natural marriage of he “traditional” old school metal approach and more abstract and ambient, otherworldly feel.

So in a way I definitely see that comparison, but the route for the similar sound or feel has been probably different. Or at least I don´t know any better, haha. Also, I like post-rock and post-metal a lot so that MIGHT have something to do with that.

11. With only little hope and many unconventional ideas, “Deliverance From The Godless Void” surely is a challenge for the audience. And maybe the extraordinary long running time of over 50 minutes might be challenging as well. Don’t you see a risk that this might be too much impressions for the listener?

Yes. If it´s too much - then don´t listen. There are millions of bands out there doing short and easy, catchy songs.

12. Yet DESOLATE SHRINE take a refreshing approach on extreme and gloomy music, Finland in general tends to offer forward-thinking and dark metal bands - at least when you have a look at death metal: Funebre, Demigod were much darker than other Scandinavian bands, Demilich was absolutely obscure and forward-thinking and newer bands like Cryptborn or Lantern deliver outstanding material as well. Why do you think your geographic location forms this kind of music? It is about saunas and vodka, isn’t it?

I would like to say it´s the weather and during winter the constant darkness BUT most of Sweden is like that as well. So what makes Finnish approach gloomier? I have no definite answer for that, really. Finnish mentality, spirit, has always been a bit more melancholic and bleaker than our neighbours on the west. Historically we´ve been sandwiched between Swedish and Russian powers and therefore had to persevere harsh conditions, occupation of hostile forces and clashing cultures. That has probably shaped us, our view of life and sense of humor.

If someone would read our folklore and hear our trad. Music, he or she would instantly notice this gloom and despair. It´s hard-coded in us.

13. As a musician I really enjoy having influences from the outside that complement a bands vision, give some ideas the band might not have had yet. An important moment is in the studio when the technician might emphasise some passages to better showcase them or giving the album a slightly different vibe by modifying small parts within the sound. As you did the recordings for DESOLATE SHRINE all by yourself, do you think you miss those external input? Or do you have a clear and fixed vision how your songs should sound so you would never let anybody else take influence on your ideas?

Sometimes I do. I tend to ask input from other guys but rarely there´s much to say. It´s more general like “this part is odd” or “This part works out really well”. Not going into details, really. So in that sense it would be interesting to have a producer of sorts as an external pair of ears and brains. I sometimes do send semi-finished songs to friends but they never really give any real input for the song, haha.

Influencing some details would be welcome but the actual songwriting is something I don´t want anyone to interfere.

14. To form your dark and special vision of extreme metal, you must have some external influences nevertheless. Of course, many will be found in classical extreme metal, early death metal, black metal, etc. But are there any sources of inspiration that are not rooted in metal? In any other musical genre for example? Or which artists influenced your style you use for your cover artworks?

My main metal influences are mostly early to mid 90´s stuff which I think is really apparent. Besides metal I really enjoy soundtracks and some classical stuff as well as (dark) ambient. I do enjoy some electronic music every now and then. The common nominator is that the music paints some kind of images in my head. It has to conjure something in me. About cover artwork – that´s a hard one. I enjoy many but don´t even know the names probably. I´m not too much into basic death metal artwork nowadays to be honest. I´d like to see more bands going for more bizarre or abstract direction. So I´m not absolutely sure who or what has influenced me directly.

15. LL, thank you very much for your time and answers. It was a pleasure for me having this interview with you since “Deliverance From The Godless Void” is an outstanding album. Feel free to leave some words to my readers.

Thank you! It´s great to see that the interviewer actually has listened the album and looked at the artwork and from my point of view, understood the underlying motivations and concepts behind it all quite well.

]]>Degial - Predator Reignhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/degial-predator-reign/
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 22:20:26 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/degial-predator-reign/
On one hand Degial for sure continue the way they started with &ldquo;Death&rsquo;s Striking Wings&rdquo;. Death Metal, but not for the faint of heart. No cheese melodies, no nice grooves, no structures adapted from pop-music. It began with a lot of attitude, heavily influenced by the early days of Morbid Angel. Now it takes another step to the next level.
&ldquo;Predator Reign&rdquo; is harsh, vile and baneful. It is hectic, almost chaotic.
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On one hand Degial for sure continue the way they started with “Death’s Striking Wings”. Death Metal, but not for the faint of heart. No cheese melodies, no nice grooves, no structures adapted from pop-music. It began with a lot of attitude, heavily influenced by the early days of Morbid Angel. Now it takes another step to the next level.

“Predator Reign” is harsh, vile and baneful. It is hectic, almost chaotic. It is un-catchy yet still somehow familiar. First of all, Degial created their trademark sound. They are not longer a darker and more honest version of Morbid Angel. They found their very own style. Based on Morbid Angel during “Altars Of Madness” and “Blessed Are The Sick”. Enriched by those ideas they share with Vorum or Beyond. Brought to perfection with the spirit and attitude of bands like early Necrophobic and Watain.

But that’s not the only reason many songs on “Predator Reign” soon sound familiar. Okay, there are some hummingbird-riffs that follow a similar pattern throughout the whole album. But that’s not the point. The secret are many small details. Harmonies, breaks, slight melodies. Obscure changes in groove and rhythm. Mostly subtle, not always memorable in the first place. But after the seconds spin of this album, you will recognise the individual songs. They sound familiar and well-known. Without any cheesy refrains, uber-catchy melodies or dull song structures. They have a profile, deep in a vile, chaotic and harsh atmosphere. I think that is pretty impressive.
And of course there are many awesome riffs that stand for for own, telling their very own stories aside from the lyrics.

But beside those intelligent little aspects within the individual songs, there is the larger image. The album “Predator Reign”. And this seems coherent, like one consistent piece of music. Maybe because some bumblebee-riffs using the same pattern over and over again. But I think it is more because of the dense atmosphere. It is a baneful album. It is full of tension. Honest aggression, erupting in almost chaotic beats and structures. But always without loosing the attitude that gives Degial their own profile.

With those main ingredients, remarkable details and pure unfiltered evil spirit, there are a lot of incredibly good songs on this album. But for me “Thousand Spears Impale”, which was used for a video-clip, is just among the average of “Predator Reign”. “The Savage Covenant”, “Devil Spawn”, “Heretical Repugnance” or “Triumphant Extinction” are way more outstanding tracks that illustrate both the fire and the obscure catchyness that form the individual style of Degial.

Maybe “Predator Reign” is not the most easy-listening album by the band. But with all layers of chaos, darkness and playful details, it is surely the most mature. And of course the one with the most individual identity.

]]>Crucifyre Post Vulcanic Blackhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/crucifyre-post-vulcanic-black/
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 20:41:31 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/crucifyre-post-vulcanic-black/
Since the very first moment I was introduced to Crucifyre I am in love with this band. &ldquo;Infernal Earthly Divine&rdquo; had this special feeling, this unique approach on mixing early extreme metal with speed and thrash metal, playing it in a doomy mood, while still creating both pushing and catching songs. With &ldquo;Black Magic Fire&rdquo; they continued their way, yet introduced even more musicality. No wonder that there where awesome hits on this record, causing in regular rotations on my stereo.
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Since the very first moment I was introduced to Crucifyre I am in love with this band. “Infernal Earthly Divine” had this special feeling, this unique approach on mixing early extreme metal with speed and thrash metal, playing it in a doomy mood, while still creating both pushing and catching songs. With “Black Magic Fire” they continued their way, yet introduced even more musicality. No wonder that there where awesome hits on this record, causing in regular rotations on my stereo. Another four years went by, the same period Crucifyre took between their first two albums. And now “Post Vulcanic Black” is finally out. I was surprised. But I was not disappointed.

As I hoped - and you might expected - Crucifyre still continue their way. The way they describe best by themself: ““Post Vulcanic Black” delivers the primitive instincts of Hellhammer, the dark melodic sensibilities of Mercyful Fate but always without losing the quintessential early Slayer worship.”
There is still a lot of Hellhammer or Venom. This raw and archaic way on playing metal. There are many quotes on Slayer. In the riffs, in the solos and in the attitude. And there is a lot of Mercyful Fate. Last but not least in the incredible “Black Serpentagram”.

But there is even more. That’s the point where Crucifyre took the next step, developed and incorporate more experiments into their sound. I hear a lot of psychedelic and playful elements in the mostly rocking (read: close to hard rock like AC/DC) “Mother Superior’s Eyes”. I hear some Black Sabbath Vibe in “War Chylde”. I hear a lot of twin-guitars. I hear some Pentagram.
But what I hear most: The incredible blend of Crucifyre. As they blend several ingredients into their very own sound. Into a remarkable sound. That always has this dark and occult spirit. That bewitches its listener.

As a surprising but very well fitting element, there are more clean vocals on “Post Vulcanic Black” than ever before. But those moments make the songs even more catchy and put them on another level. The epic refrain of “200 Divisions” for example (with some hints to Bathory as well). Or as said before in the outstanding “Black Serpentagram” that lives from its doom-driven atmosphere. The contrast between the baneful instrumentation and the calm vocals create a very special tension that make this song incredibly awesome.

Okay, to be honest, not all tracks are superior. “Mother Superior’s Eyes” or “Copenhagen In The Seventies” are more or less some straight rock’n roll songs. Entertaining, catchy and almost cheesy. They offer a nice break in the almost 50 Minutes running time of “Post Vulcanic Black”. But I could surely live without them.
Opposite for the other tracks as they are a fantastic continuation for Crucifyre. “Murder And Sex And Self Destruction”, “200 Divisions” or “Black Serpentagram” are just hits.

]]>Greytomb - Monumental Microcosmhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/greytomb-monumental-microcosm/
Mon, 12 Mar 2018 22:29:26 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/greytomb-monumental-microcosm/
The Australian metal scene is somehow outstanding. With Ulcerate (as I may count New Zealand to Australia) it is the origin of the new genre post-death metal. And as bands like Beyond Terror, Beyond Grace or Departé served a similar mixture of post-rock, dense atmosphere and harsh extreme metal, the forward-thinking, progressive output of this country is really impressive. A new player - at least for me - to this original contemporary movement is Greytomb.
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The Australian metal scene is somehow outstanding. With Ulcerate (as I may count New Zealand to Australia) it is the origin of the new genre post-death metal. And as bands like Beyond Terror, Beyond Grace or Departé served a similar mixture of post-rock, dense atmosphere and harsh extreme metal, the forward-thinking, progressive output of this country is really impressive. A new player - at least for me - to this original contemporary movement is Greytomb. Although they are active under that name since 2015, releasing an album last year already, “Monumental Microcosm” is my first contact to the band. But with its intense blend of several extreme styles, I felt in love immediately.

“Null” is an awesome start into the EP. This song takes it’s time to build up atmosphere. Starting slowly, building tension. Soon it shows awesome parallels to Departé or Ulcerate, mixing slightly dissonant harmonies and riffs with fast blasting beats; screams and growls exchange - and suddenly clean vocals set in as well. Maybe a little bit theatrical but still a wonderful aspect in this progressive track, that later adds minimalist, repetitive nihilism and slow doom into its versatile blend.

This clean vocals are an important part in Greytombs music and find usage in some really well selected moments. In “Antimeta” they complement a more calm part that is set within two more black metal-like moments. And in “Force Majeure” the clean singing helps to build the climax at the end of the song. This wide range of vocal variation adds a very own profile to Greytomb.

As there are more progressive song-structures and forward-thinking harmonies on the one hand, there are notable references to traditional extreme music as well on “Monumental Microcosm”. There is a lot of black metal on this EP, minimalistic and repetitive. And maybe a more traditional approach on doom as well as the heavy ending of “Antimeta” might suggest.

So “Monumental Microcosm” shows both it’s roots in black and doom metal as well as Greytombs vision on contemporary and progressive extreme music. It has a wide dynamical range, from calm and dreamy moments to furious and angry eruptions. But always maintains a dense atmosphere. It is an awesome EP. And I’m really looking forward to see how both Greytomb and this stylistic movement from Australia develop in future.

]]>Absolutumhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/absolutum/
Sun, 11 Mar 2018 20:00:52 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/absolutum/
I by ABSOLUTUM 1. Ahoihoi Kolf. It&rsquo;s a pleasure to have ABSOLUTUM featured on my little webzine. Although it is your first sign of live, your EP was a total blast for me. It has both reminiscences of the second wave of black metal and some very own ideas. For example dismal melodies that are similar to Deathspell Omega or your incredible harmonies on keyboards. What was your main intention when you started ABSOLUTUM?
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I by ABSOLUTUM

1. Ahoihoi Kolf. It’s a pleasure to have ABSOLUTUM featured on my little webzine. Although it is your first sign of live, your EP was a total blast for me. It has both reminiscences of the second wave of black metal and some very own ideas. For example dismal melodies that are similar to Deathspell Omega or your incredible harmonies on keyboards. What was your main intention when you started ABSOLUTUM?

Hey and thanks man! My main intention was to do finally some Black Metal, which I wanted to do for years. It was summer 2016, it was hot, kind of depressed and stuck in crappy basement flat. I have written the songs on four evenings in a row, after work. Grinding teeth and playing Black Metal. The feeling was there and I just spit it out. Riff after riff. Mostly I had those pictures of the Emperor video „The Loss And Curse Of Reverence“ in my mind and the landscape where I grew up and the feelings related to that place. I was a little bit nostalgic at this time and longed for innocent days, when you were stupid and unburdened.

2. As there are different information about your very first output on the internet: Was your EP called “I”, which would perfectly fit to the names of the containted songs, or was the EP self titled?

Jan (Buckard – Bass) did the layout and he just called it „I“. Because we already knew that there will be a „II“.

3. But let’s start at the very beginning of ABSOLUTUM. I know the question is kinda boring and standard for most interviews without any substance. But how did everything start for you? I mean, You and Buckard are playing in Valborg, which released their current album “Endstrand” almost a year ago, as well. And Glanemann has his other band Total Negation among some others, although they do not seem to be very active. Sole person with some more time for creative work might be Feddern who recently put his other band Fäulnis on hold. But since he is also running his Youtube-Channel “Krachmucker TV”, he does not seem to have too much spare time as well. So why was ABSOLUTUM born and how did you get in touch with each other?

Well. After I had written those four songs with programmed drums, I was done with my part and I got everything out my system. At first I wanted to do everything on my own – an obscure Black Metal project. But I did a lot of solo stuff, like Owl and Gruenewald and I got a little bit tired of it. So I contacted Christoph (Glanemann – Drums) if he might be interested in playing and recording drums. I know him from some concerts we played together (Valborg and Total Negation) and we had some jamessions. While Christoph was busy recording drums, I asked Seuche if he wants to sing on it. After he got the tracks with the finished drums he was all in. He visited us at our studio and we recorded vocals. That was a session! I got goosebumbs because he was so „into“ it. That was the point where I was very glad that I asked those guys, because we could experience the Absolutum vibe together. Then I asked Jan to play bass and mix it. It was the most easy project I have ever done. Fast, not overplayed, fully emotional, no big thinking. Feelings were true. Writing these songs was not about doing a Black Metal band, it was more a recapturing of old feelings, you long for, because they are long gone. You get a little tiny flash, and that’s it. And that’s why it is important to do this quick and raw, without thinking – to capture true feelings and feel it.

4. As mentioned before, I hear many different aspects in the music of ABSOLUTUM. First of all there is this classical approach, hinting towards the second wave of black metal which came out of Scandinavia in the early 90s. But “III” or “V” incorporate more dissonant and nihilistic riffs as well. Last but not least there are outstanding keyboards on your EP that both intensify your soundscapes with dense walls of harmonies and add some really cool melodies. Partly contrasting to the dark and baneful guitars, partly supplementing the overall atmosphere. So what were the influences that shaped the style of ABSOLUTUM?

Emperor, Darkthrone, Ekpyrosis.

5. How do you approach song writing? Since you and Buckard play in Valborg as well, I assume that you are able to rehearse together. But Feddern does not really live close to Bonn. And I do not know about Glanemann. So I would guess there is one main song-writer, creating the foundation of a song, riffs, structures, etc., and everything gets compiled over the internet? Who is the creative mastermind behind ABSOLUTUM and how does a song evolve from idea to finished track? Are the keyboards an add-on that comes in later phases or are they planed from the beginning?

Yeah, you are right. I write/record the guitars on click/programmed drums. Then I send everything over to Christoph. He records drums. Sends me the files. I send everything over to Jan, he plays, records it and creates the first mix. Then we send everything over to Seuche. We meet and record vocals. Everything goes back to Jan. No big deal nowadays. It’s not about the oldschool spirit, in a rehearsal room. It’s about weird Black Metal projects. 8 track recorders and that stuff. DIY feeling 2018.

6. Was the long distance between all involved people a reason why ABSOLUTUM was founded in mid 2016, but released their first EP about one and a half year later? Or was the fine tuning on your songs a more significant impact on this period?

The distance had an influence and the fact, that we are all busy with other projects. We were not in a rush and it was chilled out. No need for hustle.

7. I do not have any of your lyrics available. But I hear both German and English phrases on your EP. Since Feddern used to sing in German for Fäulnis it is not a big surprise. Do you plan to use both languages on further releases or was this mixture more of an experiment for this output?

Don’t know. That is all in Seuches hand. He can do whatever he wants. Like everybody. We don’t have to talk about that stuff. I write riffs, and give it out of hand. Everybody does his stuff, like he wants to, so that he has the best feeling and best experience. This is important. Not perfectionism. Absolutum should be nice experience for the people that participate in it. I want everybody to be happy and hopefully everybody gets a feeling out of it.

8. Another boring standard question, haha! What is your lyrical concept? I would guess Feddern sings about depression, hatred, and dark emotions on a personal level again. Or it there another topic that is tied to ABSOLUTUM?

The songs just describe landscapes and feelings.

9. About topics and concepts: Why aren’t your songs named but numbered? Is it just for the first output, to focus on your music? Or is it for the sake of mystique behind black metal? There are some bands that solely rely on numbered titles for both records and songs…

We didn’t have track names and we all felt like doing it as reduced as possible.

10. For me, Valborg and the label Zeitgeister Music where closely tied together. But since I never really get into Valborgs Music, I totally missed that you are on a subdivision of Prophecy Records now. But on the other hand, your releases are still listed on Zeitgeister. Same for ABSOLUTUM. But it seems that it is a digital only release on this site. Why didn’t you publish your first EP by yourself physically but just as a download?

I just „link back“ everything we, the Zeitgeister guys, do. It’s just our lifes work. That’s why. We work with other labels, because it makes more fun.

11. Holger runs his small label The Crawling Chaos Records. But beside of its size, he already published some high quality music like Blyh or Beltez. So you are in a very good company. How did you get in contact with Holger and why did you choos his label to release your EP? I could imagine that other labels might have had interest as well…

Seuche already knew Holger and he said, that he is a cool guy and very pleasant to work it. So I contacted them, we communicated a little bit and it just felt super natural. We were in complete agreement from the very start.

12. Was a tape release your first choice? To check out if there is anybody who would buy your music? Maybe to get another connection to the early 90s which influenced your sound? Or was this situation born out of the offer by Holger/The Crawling Chaos? Might your EP see an incarnation on vinyl as well or is this format more appropriate for your next output?

We just wanted to do a tape. We didn’t look for other stuff. Regarding vinyl, I don’t know yet. If somebody is interested – yes, if not, then not.

13. As there is a long distance between the members of ABSOLUTUM and rehearsals on a regular basis are not possible, it might be doubtful if you will ever play live?

We talked about that and we all want to play live. But at first we want to release some more music and then slowly plan it. It should be something special. Easy, with fun, and good feelings. And if it’s not possible like that, we will not stress ourselves to make it possible.

14. As we are coming to the end of your little chat, do you see ABSOLUTUM as a project which is done after this EP or maybe another one? Or will you keep on working on this band, releasing a full-length in near future? The promotional sheet that came with your EP tells me of further planed outputs…

At the moment we want to do more stuff. We chose the right way and the motivation/fun level is high. The second EP is already written. We just have to record bass and vocals.

15. Kolf, thanks again for your time and answers. I’m really looking forward to hear new music by ABSOLUTUM. Take the following space to leave some closing words to my readers and anybody who is interested in ABSOLUTUM or maybe Valborg as well.

Thanks for your interest. Valborg are currently recording a new album. Owl will release an EP and a full-length this year. We are just doing stuff. Because again – it makes fun. And that doesn’t mean that you don’t suffer for your art. Fun means that you make it possible to speak your mind purely. We do everything like that. Nothing else makes sense for us anymore. A friend of mine died some days ago. Life is fragile. What is really important in the end? Take care.

]]>Blyh - Transparent to the Worldhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/blyh-transparent-to-the-world/
Sat, 10 Mar 2018 09:53:42 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/blyh-transparent-to-the-world/
A heart that tentacles grow. Grey on anthracite. Simple, minimalist. Somehow matching to the music covered by this reduced artwork. Not in terms of minimalism, more about the bleak atmosphere. But even this is not totally true. &ldquo;Transparent To The World&rdquo; is not just dull and dark. It has a dense atmosphere, ranging from deep nihilism to slight moments of hope and escapism. But I have to admit: I&rsquo;m listening to the tape edition of this album, which was self released by the band in 2017.
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A heart that tentacles grow. Grey on anthracite. Simple, minimalist. Somehow matching to the music covered by this reduced artwork. Not in terms of minimalism, more about the bleak atmosphere. But even this is not totally true. “Transparent To The World” is not just dull and dark. It has a dense atmosphere, ranging from deep nihilism to slight moments of hope and escapism.
But I have to admit: I’m listening to the tape edition of this album, which was self released by the band in 2017. There is a re-issue on LP by The Crawling Chaos Records at the moment. With a more colorful artwork, drawn in sober colors, which might better illustrate the variety of emotions of this record. But there is still this heart. An icon still matching the music of Blyh - although I’m not really able to tell you what makes me think so.

Maybe because it illustrates the emotions behind the music, coming deep from the heart of the musicians? Maybe because it is an unsettling image, seeing tentacles growing out of a heart? As unsettling as some dark moments in the music are? Maybe because it is a coherent icon, matching coherent music and forming a coherent release? Maybe I should rather say authentic.

Musically it is kind of a familiar approach. Atmospheric black metal. Cold, grim. But not filled with bitterness. Somewhere beneath the fast paced blasting beats and minimalist riffs, there is still some hope, some urge to escape from the world. In some passages this aspects seize the moment, become the leading theme of the song. Those are the moments where Blyh perform best. Offering awesome melodies with catchy structures. Reminding me a little bit of ColdWorld. At least in “The Strength Of A Woman Can Be Boundless”.

And frankly, even when all hope and escapism get abandoned and the atmosphere turns bleak, baneful, unsettling, when repetitive and hypnotic harmonies dominate, Blyh still performs on a high level, as the title track displays in a very eloquent manner. How two musical themes are varied, counterattack each other, develop. Sometimes more playful, dreamy, transcendental, almost with some post-black metal touch. But on the other side more hopeless, nihilistic and nightmarish. A beautiful song, full of contrasts.

In this style Blyh plays with typical elements of contemporary black metal. Catchy melodies and dense, incredible atmosphere opposed to baneful and bleak nihilism. More towards us-American and Cascadian black metal, than to Scandinavian style.

As an interesting fact, Blyh included a cover track on this debut. But it was originally not played by another metal band, yet by indie/folk band Songs: Ohia, respective Jason Molina. An interesting twist on this records, since “Tigress” totally fits into the concept of “Transparent To The World” as well as it is a nice adaption of the original song.

]]>Zeit - Konvergenzhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/zeit-konvergenz/
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 16:54:14 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/zeit-konvergenz/
After a couple of eps &ldquo;Konvergenz&rdquo; is the first full-length of German Zeit. And this debut shows their very own interpretation of black metal. It combines more traditional elements of the genre with some dark and muddy ingredients of sludge, post-rock, slight moments of punk and an interesting approach on song writing.
Although there are influences from different styles of music, &ldquo;Konvergenz&rdquo; sounds coherent and fluent. Most turns within a song are a logical evolution of the main concept behind.
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After a couple of eps “Konvergenz” is the first full-length of German Zeit. And this debut shows their very own interpretation of black metal. It combines more traditional elements of the genre with some dark and muddy ingredients of sludge, post-rock, slight moments of punk and an interesting approach on song writing.

Although there are influences from different styles of music, “Konvergenz” sounds coherent and fluent. Most turns within a song are a logical evolution of the main concept behind. And if there is a harsh break, it is well calculated to enrich the special character of a track. So there are no elements on this record that are used form themself. Everything is done for the big picture that forms the unique style of Zeit.

The start of “Nichts” seems quite surprising in the very first moment. More sludge and punk dominate in the beginning, but it turns into a bleak and melancholic black metal track soon. Monotonous and repetitive riffing and cold blastbeats included. Or the more doom driven “Trüb”, that take a totally different approach in the beginning, illustrates its title: “dull”. It has a bleak and hopeless atmosphere that perfectly fits into the cold and distant overall image Zeit create on this album. Plus this song develops into more playful moments later, reminding a little bit of both Yellow Eyes and Belus.

Where most black metal creates its cold and discomforting atmosphere with reduced elements, repetitive riffs and monotonous beats, Zeit has a different approach as well. Especially the drumming is very versatile. From really fast blastbeats to unusual patterns like in “Latenz” there is a wide range that nevertheless perfectly fits into the atmosphere of “Konvergenz”. Same for the Guitars that manage to coherently mix more playful, post-rock like harmonies with pure black metal melodies or dark sludge grooves.
And as a beautiful bonus, the bass has some prominent moments as well. Mostly supporting the other instruments, but contributing some nice melodies on special occurrences.

So “Konvergenz” is no ordinary black metal album. It has a refreshing view on the genre, combining more contemporary elements from post-rock - without ever playing blackgaze -, more dirt from sludge and even some playful melodies into eventful and exciting songs. But always keeping up the bleak and cold atmosphere. There is a lot to discover and enough space to loose yourself in the melodies.

]]>Absolutum - Ihttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/2018-02-19-absolutum-i/
Mon, 19 Feb 2018 22:38:36 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2018/2018-02-19-absolutum-i/
Black Metal Doom Punks Fäulnis ceased to be. That&rsquo;s a pitty, because I really liked their approach on extreme and nihilistic music. But fortunately their vocalist Seuche recently joined another band. Together with Christian Kolf and Jan Buckard from unconventional doom/death metal outfit Valborg and Christoph Glanemann (Total Negation) on drums they form Absolutum. The first output of this young band is a classic ep on tape, released by The Crawling Chaos Records.
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Black Metal Doom Punks Fäulnis ceased to be. That’s a pitty, because I really liked their approach on extreme and nihilistic music. But fortunately their vocalist Seuche recently joined another band. Together with Christian Kolf and Jan Buckard from unconventional doom/death metal outfit Valborg and Christoph Glanemann (Total Negation) on drums they form Absolutum. The first output of this young band is a classic ep on tape, released by The Crawling Chaos Records. And man, this is an intense and hopeless maelstrom within just a quarter hour.

With many reduced and repetititve riffs, the music mostly pays tribute to many early bands of the second wave of black metal. But Absolutum is not another copycat or rip-off. Soon some discreet keyboards enter the soundscape and add a great and versatile atmosphere. Dense harmonics thicken the immense dark and nihilistic attitude of the music. More outstanding melodies create a bleak and melancholic counterpart towards the harsh guitars and fast blazing drums.

But Absolutum reach their best form, when the melodies get absyssal dark and hopeless. When the dissonant riffs create a baneful and unsettling atmosphere, tend towards a simmilar approach as Deathspell Omega or Aosoth use to express their interpretation of black metal. “III” is both disgusting and beautiful at the same time. An ugly, nihilistic piece of music. Last but not least due to the extreme vocals of Seuche, who contributes the most abhorrent shrieks of the ep to this song and doubles them with another layer of screams. Incredible intense work!
“V” offers the same attributes, but is more angry and majestic at the same time. It starts really raw and minimal, grinding and blasting. But becomes really epic in the slowdown towards the end.

With only four songs (excluding the introduction) in under 14 Minutes, Absolutum create an intense, dark and hopeless ep. With constant high pace and intoxicating elements on harmonies and vocals, this ep is a debut on an extremely high level. For me the first highlight of this young year. So keep an eye on this band and hurry up if you want a physical copy. The tapes are limited to 200 units.

]]>Beltezhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/beltez/
Sun, 04 Feb 2018 21:30:52 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/beltez/
This interview was done with a different approach. Every single question was mailed individually to Dominic and each following item based on his answer. This talk started on 24 July 2017 end ended on 4 February 2018.
Exiled, Punished...Rejected by Beltez 1. Welcome Dominic and thank you for your time to answer this unconventional interview. BELTEZ are active for 15 years by now and during this time your band left very different impressions on me.
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This interview was done with a different approach. Every single question was mailed individually to Dominic and each following item based on his answer. This talk started on 24 July 2017 end ended on 4 February 2018.

1. Welcome Dominic and thank you for your time to answer this unconventional interview. BELTEZ are active for 15 years by now and during this time your band left very different impressions on me. So let’s dwell into the history of the band for the beginning. When you founded (the true) BELTEZ you already played in another Black Metal Band called ORKUS. I saw them a couple of times and were quite fond of them. So what was your motivation to start yet another Black Metal band?

You’re welcome and I´m very pleased to answer these questions. First of all, I wasn’t playing at Orkus when Beltez was founded. I joined them some years later as their singer and guitarist after some band members left the band. Beltez at this time was a home-recording only project which grew to a band after Flagg from Orkus joined as a live bass player.
Both bands symbolized different arts of playing Black Metal. I think my main motivation to play in two bands was to grew as a musician and play different styles.

2. As you said by yourself, both bands have an different approach on black metal. For me Orkus was more like end 90s black metal, playing with more harmonies like i.e. Dark Funeral meanwhile BELTEZ was more in the vein of the earlier second wave of the genre. Just to take Mayhem or early Darkthrone as comparison. How do you see the differences between both bands?

That’s very near to my opinion. ORKUS had a very melodic approach. Their first (“The Gate”) and second Output (“Thorns”) was a classic 90s melodic Black Metal sound. On “Worms Of Tomorrow” we had a more melodic Death Metal approach but still with all the old elements.

For BELTEZ on the other hand we tried to sound like BURZUM or other second wave bands. Starting from the screaming of our former singer Nameless to the long songs with repetitive riffs. It sounds so crappy because we recorded everything at home without good hardware to do so. Also the drum computer we used back then was – from a nowadays point of view – the worst we could use. But I’ve to state that all of BELTEZ music was created as a birthday gift for a buddy of us who was a great BURZUM fan. So we never had a professional claim to be or sound good.
The main difference – excluding the sound – was the different approach to work. ORKUS was structured, live oriented and professional. Working on BELTEZ was pure anarchy.

3. BELTEZ started as a birthday gift? So there was no intention to form a real band in the beginning? When Orkus ceased to be, why did you continue with BELTEZ as a “real” band?

Haha, yeah… sounds silly right? But it wasn’t only a birthday project. Despite the funny background we still tried to write and record an as good as possible album within 48 hours. ORKUS never was my project, so after starting to record some new metal riffs and most of all because of “Selbstmord” the decision to reanimate BELTEZ was easy. Flagg liked the new version of “Selbstmord” and so we started to write some new songs which finally resulted in our album “Tod: Part I”. First I wanted to release the songs for free via online portals (Like we did on both BELTEZ demos in the beginning) but Flagg suggested to release it physically through Bret Hard Records which was - at this time - his baby. We needed a new singer because Nameless didn’t wanted to make music any longer so we asked our buddy M.P. which we knew from ALCHERA where he does the screams also. After two years we had finished everything and released it. But we never expected these positive reactions. We received a couple of gig offers and decided to start BELTEZ as a live band again. As you see, all decisions we made were very organic and not planned at all.

4. That would explain why there was such a huge development in your style over your three albums. Frankly, I didn’t really like “Beltane”. Maybe because it was formed in this crude and archaic way. And mainly because I didn’t understand black metal at the time listening to this album. As you already said, “Beltane” was written within only two days. For “Tod: Part 1” you took all together about nine years. Between this release and your recent output “Exiled, Punished… Rejected” you only had four years but had an even bigger development. How do you see the progression of BELTEZ? Might your short time with Ultha have influenced the song-writing of your latest record?

Well frankly I don’t like Beltane either but it is a time capsule. “Tod: Part 1” took so long because we never focused on working for new songs. As we started and gathered all ideas we had in the years, the record was written very fast and recorded at home in about one week. The work on “Exiled, Punished… Rejected” took some more time apart from the lesser years between the releases and truly had an even bigger development because we worked as a unit for the first time. I still wrote all the songs but the rest of the band was a good corrective for them. J. K. always “mock” me up if the songs where to melodic and not intense enough. My short time with ULTHA had surely an influence on the songs. Not on the writing of songs but on the main approach of doing it. If there are any similarities (which I don’t see apart from the same level of intensity we wanted to reach) that’s maybe because J.K. and Ralph from ULTHA have a very similar taste of music. “Exiled, Punished… Rejected” was almost written in the time of half an year. The recording took some time because our buddy Sven from the Klangfabrique Donrath was very busy with studying and other projects, so we had a little delay for the recording.

5. As you see some similarities between the approach on black metal music between BELTEZ and Ultha as well, let’s dig more into your influences. On “Beltane” it was surely the early second wave as you said by yourself. Burzum, Mayhem, Darkthrone. On the follow-up album I would see some late 90s styled influences (like Dark Funeral at this era) and even some slight moments of more modern post-black metal. And your current album continues some of those post-rock influences, but more in a way that us-american black metal bands would use it. Maybe speaking of Weaklings, but maybe more of Woe… And on the one hand, you state that you are the main songwriter behind BELTEZ, but on the other hand you mention that “Exiled…” might have some parallels to Ultha because of the musical taste of J.K.. So how would you describe your current inspiration and the influence of J.K.s background on your songwriting?

That’s a good question! My inspiration always differs from time to time because I’m not only into Black Metal or Metal itself. You also hear some punk influences on our first outputs. I would never compare us to WEAKLINGs Black Metal (For me they sound more like EMPEROR) but you are right… WOE would be a good comparison. Like WOE I always had a very melodic approach to songs. My main inspiration as a guitarist are the early NAGLFAR and GATES OF ISHTAR for the melodic parts and the German NAGELFAR for heaviness and riffing and you can hear that on many parts of “Tod: Part I”. But instead of sounding like on “Tod: Part I” J.K. always pushes me further to write something what now is the sound of “Exiled, Punished… Rejected”. If the riff or melody wasn’t “dark” or intense enough he always told me directly. And all these written melodies work very well with J.K. approach to create a lead sound. I’ve used mainly basic sounds on “Tod: Part I” but on “Exiled, Punsihed… Rejected” J.K. used very different effects (Flanger, Phaser, Echo over echo over echo…). J.K. also plays in a Goth-Rock band called KILLING SUZIE, grew up with THE CURE, FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM and in opposite to me in my early years, he never had a problem with hearing Metal and Gothic at the same time. But let’s be clear. We don’t have so much Wave influences like ULTHA and don’t want them either. The Post Black Metal touch comes from all these delays, echos and so on. We never wanted to sound like these bands but we use similar techniques to create our sound.

And we don’t have to forget to mention our drummer S.B. I used a drum computer on “Tod: Part I”. S.B. is more intense, creative and fast forward than my digital friend. Without him “Exiled, Punished… Rejected” would never sounded like it does.

6. Your influences from punk rock are very obvious looking on your ep “Fliehende Stürme”, which was named after the post-punk band and featured a cover-song from them as well. And on “Tod: Part 1” you played “Der Tod Ist Ein Meister Aus Deutschland” by Slime. So punk and black metal don’t rule each other out for you?

Definitely not. In my opinion Black Metal is Metals logical equivalent of Punk to Rock music. If you watch the beginning of both scenes there are so many similarities. Both wanted to provoke (like Sid Vicious did with wearing a swastika shirt) and wanted to sound rawer than other bands. A true youth attitude.

7. Well provoking with nazi-symbols has a history in black metal as well. Many bands from the early second era used those symbols or vocabulary to provoke. But some guys took it too serious and started the NSBM movement that is still ongoing. So it might be a good possibility to give a clear statement against NSBM by playing songs from left-winged punks as a black metal band. As you released “Beltane” on Ewiges Eis Records, there might have been the necessity for you to take distance from the right-winged scum?

You get it. I personally made the mistake not to check Ewiges Eis and their background (Remember, there was no Google back then). They made us a good offer and only wanted from us that we delete all political statements from our record. I was so stupid to agree to that. A mistake I deeply regret. To make clear where we stand politically we covered “Der Tod Ist Ein Meister Aus Deutschland” from German Punk legend SLIME which is based on the “Todesfuge” by German poet Paul Celan. This song was not only suitable for the main theme of the album but also has a good statement against racism and facism. We also had played that song live with ORKUS on almost every gig before.

8. Yeah, using the internet for research was not common in 2002. But to be honest, Google is around since 1997 (;

That’s true! But you know how poor the information on the internet was back then. But yeah, if I was more into a scene (that’s the problem when you have lived in a small village) and would have investigated better then maybe we never had made that mistake.

9. Back to our topic: Black Metal was associated with a more right-winged mindset for a long time. Though Euronymos was a communist and many bands had their roots and influences in punk rock as well. But today there are many bands emerging from a more left background, beginning with already mentioned Weaklings, WITTR to the more recent Woe, Ultha, Unru, Sun Worship, etc. How do you see this development? What do you think about bands playing black metal without having the original attitude like Deafheaven or Liturgy?

I never understood the point behind that right-winged mindset being so widespread in Black Metal. A right-wing, fascist idea is always accompanied with the absence of individualism and rebellion. Black Metal is also associated with hate against religion thus I don’t see a point why the race (I don’t like that term but let’s use it for this example) should be of any meaning. Long story short: A right-wing mindset makes no sense if you are into Black Metal. And don’t get me wrong here, but all extreme political ideas that don’t include the point of individualism also make no sense here. That’s the same problem you have in Punk Rock now. Communism and Fascism can’t be Punk.

And as I stated before, Black Metal should be rebellious. If the original attitude now has become a common mindset then why not doing something new? What marks these bands are not only the absence of the original attitude but also they are highly creative and brings the music to new levels. Despite that there are still good and creative bands with this old attitude out there.

10. Okay, let’s focus on your band again. Nowadays BELTEZ is just known by this name. But on your debut your band is called “the true BELTEZ”. Was this just a hommage to Mayhem or was there any deeper meaning?

We still had the “The True” on “Tod:Part 1” but decided to leave it out of our new logo. And as you assumed correctly it was just a homage to Mayhem, an idea born, while Nameless and I had drunk too much and created our first logo. Good old times… but the times are changing.

11. So you created your first logo by yourself? I assume the new logo without the prefix was necessary to fit your visual image to your change in music… Who was responsible for the new design? For me it looks like a creation by View From The Coffin…

Yes exactly. In the beginning we made all of this ourself, from drawing the logo, drawing the backdrop or making the tapes (with copying from the computer via a mixer into the tape-deck). This was in the beginning of the band at around 2001 to 2003. For “Tod:Part 1” a buddy of us (The guitar player from SKUM) made an update of our old logo. For “Exiled, Punished… Rejected” we felt it necessary, as you expected, to change our logo to visualize the change in music and to made it more harmonising with the cover artwork and the style of the cd. And you’re right too. It was made by View From The Coffin. Maybe for the next record we will change it again if it doesn’t suit the overall visualization… who knows.

12. Ah, Roberto Parada was responsible for the rework of your original logo? He did the great artwork for “Tod: Part 1” as well. But for “Exiled…” you completely changed your visual style – conveniently to your music. Why have you chosen Benjamin Harff for your recent artwork? As I read from other interviews and your info on Bandcamp this album follows the concept of Wayne Barlowes novel “God’s Demon”. For those readers not familiar with this book: How does the picture fit into the concept?

Well, Benjamin Harff is an old friend of us and we loved his work for ATLANTEAN KODEX or his illustrated Silmarillion. We told Ben the main points of our adaptation and asked him to do an artwork that isn’t typical Black Metal. The interpretation of the artwork and how certain elements of it fit into our adaptation of “God’s Demon” should be made by the viewer himself. What we can say is that the interpretation of Ben differs a lot from Wayne Barlowes own artworks for his book. But that’s what we wanted. Not a “Magic: The Gathering” high fantasy painting but a creative and – in my opinion – outstanding artwork.

13. Frankly, I haven’t read “God‘s Demon” yet. But unwittingly I already was aware of Wayne Barlowes artistic contribution on various film projects like Hellboy, Pacific Rim etc. pp. As I read from the synopsis of “God’s Demon” it deals about how hell is structured and organized after the fall of Lucifer and his vanishing afterwards. A Demon Major is still aware of his former life in heaven and wants to return there.
On the first sight it sounds like a classic high fantasy story about good and evil, about heaven and hell. And this would fit into a classical black metal context as well. Demons, Satan, Hell and so on. But I could imagine that there is another layer within this story. A more social and philosophic aspect shown in an abstract way. So why did this specific novel inspire you to write a concept album closely tied to this story?

To be honest “God’s Demon” is in some sort a high fantasy story but on the other hand feels like more reading “A Song of Ice and Fire” with all its intrigues. Wayne Barlow mixes several inspirations to his vision of hell like from “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”, “Divina Commedia” and some elements of Mediterranean heathen religions. All of this was very inspirational for us as we were searching for a lyrical schema for the record. And as the idea of doing a concept for the record we decided to focus on this book. No one ever used it before (as far as I researched) and therefore it’s something like our own “Lord Of The Rings”.

14. Oh, okay. After “Tod: Part 1” I expected another concept album behind “Exiled…”. But even when only you adapted some parts of “God’s Demon”, it is still some kind of coherent story behind this album… That brings me to another question: Why didn’t you continue with another part of “Tod”? The title of your last album suggested the beginning of a series…

Yes there is some kind of coherent story. Adamantinarx describes the death of a man and the journey of his soul across the river Styx to Adamanatinarx - one of the biggest cities in hell – which is ruled by the demon Major Sargatanas. He is also one of the main characters of the story. In Soulweaving we describe the Sag-harim. soul-puppeteers, altered by Belzebub the regent of hell after Lucifer hasn’t been seen since the fall. These soul-puppeteers have a natural connection to mankind and can, driven by Belzebub, alter the way that souls take to lead them into hell where they then serve as slaves or building materials – called soulbricks – for the growing cities. So the ending of “Soulweaving” where a soul is altered to make its way to hell is the beginning of Adamantinarx where the journey to hell of the soul is told.
We didn’t continued with “Tod” due to our change in the style. We wanted to try something new. Nonetheless a second part of “Tod” will definitely come. We still have some songs which sound more like this record so maybe one day I will work them out. But first we are focusing on our next record that will hopefully be ready to be released end of the next year or the beginning of 2019 on Avantgarde Music.

15. Oh, that sounds as you already have a clear vision of your next album? May I ask for some details on the things to come?

You may ask but I have to say that we have no clear vision right now. Maybe it will be a loose concept again, maybe not. We are currently working out some ideas but this will take time. “Exiled” set the bar very high for us and we want to deliver an album as good as “Exiled”.

16. Well, indeed “Exiled…” was a really great album with a very coherent concept. For me it was very interesting that the opening theme was also used to close the last track. It knots the whole album together from beginning to end. What was your intention when you finished “Exiled…” with the same riff as it started?

As a statement for the “beginning is the end is the beginning…” thing. As mentioned before the story is a circle so it was clear to us to write a theme that also circles the music. It’s a small reference and a bow to the heartbeat on “Darkside Of The Moon”.

17. You mentioned that your next album will be released by Avantgarde Music in 2019. Congratulations to that deal. But “Exiled…” was released on Bret Hard Records. Frankly, this is not the first label that comes to my mind when thinking of black metal. I think you got signed to this small label because of your old bass player Flagg who runs Bret Hard, right? How did you get in touch with Avantgarde?

Yes. Flagg led Bret Hard Records in 2013. He felt that “Tod” was too good to not get noticed so he released it via BHR and also promoted it through a very good promotion agency. That’s why “Tod” got so widely noticed.

After “Exiled” was released Roberto from Avantgarde Music contacted us and asked if we already have planned a vinyl release and furthermore where we want to release our next album. At this point we decided not to work with BHR any more and started to search for a new label. What a luck we had! We are really looking forward to this!

18. Flagg isn‘t in Beltez anymore. Was he too busy with all his other musical projects? Was his departure another aspect for leaving Bret Hard?

That wasn’t the point. When we decided to do gigs again I suggested the current line-up with S.B. and J.K. We then would have had a very similar line-up as in our former band ORKUS. Flagg didn’t want that because we all didn’t harmonized very good in the last year of ORKUS. So I understand his decision not to join BELTEZ on stage. Sounds all a little bit harsh but we all are still friends. That’s only a musician thing.

Flagg did a great job when he led Bret Hard. With the current owner it didn’t worked out for us. I don’t want to go into details but there was a reason why we first announced a vinyl release on BHR and then switched to THE CRAWLING CHAOS RECORDS one week before the release of “Exiled”.

19. But hopefully Flaggs concerns about your current line-up didn’t prove true? Are you satisfied with the current incarnation of BELTEZ?

No, that’s not the point. I think he didn’t want to risk a friendship again. And if we were the same guys and didn’t had personally improved in the recent years I’m pretty sure he would have been right with his concerns but we aren’t. The working atmosphere now is great and highly creative. So his concerns didn’t prove true. As he is also playing in three other bands (SKUM, The Other, The Astral Sleep) I’m pretty sure he wasn’t that sad about it in the long term.

20. Did the old new members from Orkus have any influence on the songwriting of “Exiled…”? Did they contribute whole songs or helped you working out your ideas? Or is BELTEZ still your very own musical vision?

BELTEZ is now definitely our vision but I still wrote all the songs on “Exiled…” and I still keep doing it. But I have to say that without the help of the rest of the band it wouldn’t sound like it does now. As I said previously J.K. always takes me to new levels of harshness as I do with his ideas. Also S.Bs. drumming works better if we let him on the loose. If you compare “Tod…” with “Exiled…” you will definitely hear the differences and the power that this work sharing brings to the sound.

21. You said the former members of Orkus joined BELTEZ when you decided to play live again. But in the interviews about “Tod” you always stated: “Before releasing ‘Tod: Part 1’ we made clear that BELTEZ isn’t a live band anymore. We assumed that black metal is not real anymore.” What made you change your mind?

You have to ask Flagg what he meant there but we were probably wrong on that hahaha. Let’s just say we needed an excuse for the live abstinence. Don’t weigh every word we said back then.

22. Frankly, if you answer questions in an interview, the people might belief your statements. But on the other hand a lot of bands tend to exaggerate or tell those typical phrases that are expected by a black metal band. To be grim, to be misanthropic and so on.BELTEZ never had a problem that our members were active in not-so-true bands as well. So it is slightly a surprise that you fulfil clichés with statements about not playing live or even that you are not open for interviews. Was that Flaggs point of view only or did you evolve personally and as a band? Or was there something that changed your mind towards answering questions?

I don’t remember exactly how this “not open for interview” thing came up but we were always open for that since “Beltane”. I have to say that Flagg and I never planned to play live again but who cares about the balderdash we spouted yesterday. To be honest, you could play Black Metal Bullshit Bingo with our answers on interviews in the days of “Tod”. So it was not an evolving but a spontaneous decision to play live again (as well as some cool gig offers we never managed to play) and I think that with the current line-up it was the best decision.

23. Was your switch from German to English lyrics a spontaneous decision as well?

No it wasn’t. Due to the fact that we used “Gods Demon” as our main story the decision to write also in English was on the hand. A second point was that we planned to print the lyrics this time and English is spoken and understood by almost everybody. I don’t think that we will ever write lyrics in German again. As you do your stuff in English language too I’m pretty sure you’ll agree to this, right?

24. Well, on my side it was a separation of concern. I still write in German on NecroSlaughter.de. But since TheNocturnalSilence.de got a totally different focus, I tried to widen my audience with the switch to English language. But for sure I see your point. As we are close to the end of our litte chat, let‘s take some time for recommendations. As I know your musical taste is not limited to black metal and you also played in a fun punk band as well, please feel free to give me some hints on bands that recently impressed you – despite any genre borders.

So far by now I’m going to play in a punk band again. I’m going to write the new album for German horror punk legend “Der Fluch”. Only this time we will alter the sound a little. So 2018 will be a pretty interesting year for me!

There were some great albums this year. I was totally blasted away by the new Kettcar album which now sounds more like their old punk band But Alive than this shitty German Pop-Music on their last album. “Sommer 89” is an intense and heart touching song. I also highly recommend to give the new Propagandhi album a listen. Technical, great lyrics and everything you need in modern Punkrock.
I also loved the new Pertubator album. A great move forward for the dark synth scene. Talking about synth let’s visit the Indietronic scene. Hundreds made their best album so far. “Wilderness” shows how you can make Pop-Music and also write interesting songs. Also Grave Pleasures blasted me away with “Motherblood”. In my opinion much better than their last one and as good as Beastmilk. Honourable mentions are the new King Dude and Light Of The Morning Star. Both albums are worth a listening!

On the Metal-Side we have a great new Attic record. “Sanctimonious” is King Diamond worshipping on the highest level. Also Chaos Moon blasted me away with “Eschaton Mémoire”. Speaking about the best doom record it is clearly Bells Witch’s “Mirror Reaper”.

My personal first place are sharing two albums this year. The new Ruins Of Beverast. “Exuvia” is an intense experience which always gives me goose bumps in every second of its running time. The second one comes from King Krule. His album “The OOZ” is Doom Jazz at its most fucked up level that gives you the feeling as you are watching an Jazz concert where the singer is going to kill himself after the song. To say it by the words of King Krule. Its motion, it’s urgent, its trigger.

25. A last question about the latest highlight for your band in 2017: You recently had the release-show for the LP-edition of “Exiled…” together with Hexer. May you want to say something about the event for those who were not able to attend the gig?

It was a great gig. We had the Valhalla filled with 90 people and with Kay from Pripjat we had a good technician who did a great live sound. Hexer was stunning (But the guys forgot their black lights… so sadly no full live optics of them) and as far as I heard we did a great job too. There will be Beltez / Hexer gigs next year again.

26. Dominic, thank you for your time and answers. This different type of interview, asking each question individually, was really a pleasure for me. I hope you enjoyed it as well. Since this is the end of our chat, please feel free to leave your last words to my readers and especially your fans.

Christian, I also enjoyed it. This interview accompanied me through some of the hardest months in my life. An experience you don’t get this often in life. Thank you for these interesting questions which needed me to dig deep into my memories. As there are so many concerts we probably both will visit let’s finish this interview with a beer next time we see us.

]]>Cryptaehttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/cryptae/
Sun, 21 Jan 2018 21:30:52 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2018/cryptae/
1. Hello René, hello Kees, thank you for your time and answers. It is really a pleasure to have such an unique band as CRYPTAE is on my webzine. As all physical copys of your self-titled ep are gone, are you satisfied with the feedback so far? Are the digital purchases going as well?
Hi Chris! Thanks for the interview, we&rsquo;re happy to answer your questions. It&rsquo;s fucking insane that the sold out already.
Read More…<![CDATA[

1. Hello René, hello Kees, thank you for your time and answers. It is really a pleasure to have such an unique band as CRYPTAE is on my webzine. As all physical copys of your self-titled ep are gone, are you satisfied with the feedback so far? Are the digital purchases going as well?

Hi Chris! Thanks for the interview, we’re happy to answer your questions.
It’s fucking insane that the sold out already. Only some distros still have the demo like Season Of Mist USA and Dead Tank.

2. Well, since CRYPTAE is a young and unknown band, we need to go through a couple of boring standard questions. I hope you have a nice cold beer open and are ready to get through this little required course… Here we go: Tell me and my readers who you are. How has CRYPTAE started? Where do you come from - I know you come from the Netherlands, but metal-archives.com seems not to know this little fact…

We met some years ago at a music festival in Amsterdam and traded some art/music. A couple years later I (Kees) moved to the same city as René and we started hanging out and making music.

3. Why did you choose CRYPTAE as your moniker? I assume it is the latin plural of the word crypta / crypt?

It just sounded badass… nothing more to it to be honest. We do feel it suits the music well. The word itself also seems to have an eerie influence on our art and the subjects we choose.

4. CRYPTAE consists of René Aquarius on drums and Kees Peerdeman handling guitar, bass and vocals. Didn’t you find any other musicians to join you on your discomforting track? Or do you want to keep thinks small and tight to realize your unique ideas? For too many cooks spoil the broth…

Actually, it’s Kees on guitar and René on drums and vocals. We started as a spur-of-the-moment thing. René recorded the drums tracks and sent them to Kees who recorded guitar at home. Marlon Wolterink at White Noise Studio mixed it all. It was all done in about a week, so we didn’t even think of adding additional members, we could do it all with just the two of us.

5. I really appreciate your visual component. Your band picture is brilliant. It is simple, dark and somehow discomforting. It reminds me both of the absurd aesthetics of Australian Portal as well as the film Begotten. You choose a totally distorted typography for your logo and combined it to an abstract artwork for your ep. Especially the white background seems to be a huge contrast to your dark music. Very well done. Is there a deeper concept behind your visuals? Who is responsible for the implementation?

Kees does all the artwork. Most of the visuals are based on his dreams. There’s this recurring theme of being embedded in giant geometrical concrete shapes. The white suits the dreamscape but also works well with our minimalistic approach to music in this case.

6. Was your self-titled ep planed to be released as an mini-album? Or was it intentionally compiled as a demo?

It was just intended to be a demo. We didn’t have huge plans or anything, we just wanted to get it out there. Make a cool tape out of it and sell it through our own network of friends and acquaintances.

7. How did you get in contact with Sentient Ruin Laboratories to release your stuff on tape? Was a release on cassette your first choice? Or do you consider another format as well?

Mattia from SR somehow heard our demo tape through Bandcamp and contacted us. We actually already ordered our own batch of tapes for a DIY release, but had to cancel that when we heard a label was interested in releasing our music.

8. As I mentioned in my review, I hear a couple of influences on your music. The drones and courage to work in collages like Sunn O))), the reduced riffs similar to Conqueror, Beherit or Blasphemy, the purulence of Pissgrave and the absyssal Horror from Portal. Altogether it forms some kind of death metal. But with a lot of influences from drone/doom. And somehow very abstract. What were your influences and inspirations to create this very individual style of music? And how would you describe it yourself?

We don’t really know to be honest. We just played what we thought worked best for the songs. We didn’t really try to make old-school or more contemporary death metal or anything. We just wanted to make something raw and chaotic. The more abstract aspect probably came from our background in playing experimental stuff in our other bands and solo projects like Kees Peerdeman, René Aquarius, Dead Neanderthals and Celestial Bodies.

9. With minimalistic and repetitve arrangements, well placed stops and goes, and an overall distorted sound, even on the drums, you create an unsettling, discomforting and nightmarish soundscape. A vile and baneful atmosphere. What was your intention, your primary goal when you formed CRYPTAE and how did it had an impact on the resulting ep?

As mentioned before, everything was done really fast. We were certainly not planning every move during the process. Does this mean we’re two unsettling and discomforting people deep down? We honestly don’t know.

10. Compressed on just 15 minutes running time, your ep is both disgusting and faszinating. Despite those reduced elments it keeps me entertained, interessted, curious. It fills me with discomfort and some disturbing joy. But I can also imagine that your very own sound does not work very well on a full-length span of over half an hour. How do you see my assumption? Do you have any plans to release something like an album anytime or do you consider CRYPTAE more a band for eps and splits? Or is your band more an abstract experiment, a project that was not design to live long and publish albums?

We take things as they come, trying to keep an open mind. The most important thing for us is the passion we feel when creating music. Next album might be two hours or two minutes, whatever works best for that specific moment in time.

11. Do you think your very own style finds a lot of fans in the death metal scene? For me it seems that your music is much to abstract and way to ugly for the usual Metal Blade, Nuclear Blast, etc kind of metal fan. Yeah, maybe it is even too ugly for the fans of traditional rotten death metal in the way Autopsy, Incantation or Immolation established. So how was the feedback from fans and media so far - except for all pressed tapes beeing sold out already?

Well the death metal label is just a tool to make it easier for people to talk about our music. We hope that people buy our stuff because they genuinely have a passion for extreme music, like we do. We don’t know a lot about the backgrounds of our listeners, but ‘extreme music’ is a broad term, so we can imagine people from all kinds of corners finding something they like in our stuff. If people just buy the tape to be cool & edgy that’s fine too obviously. That said, feedback has been surprisingly positive.

12. I read in another interview that you are too busy for doing shows as CRYPTAE. Other bands, family, work, fun-stuff, etc. But maybe you might be interessted nevertheless? What would be necessary to get you on a stage? Maybe for a one-shot only?

Never say never, but it’s not something we had in mind when starting the band. We’d probably have to find someone to do the vocals live. René wants to be able to focus 100% on the drums in a live setting.

13. As you had your very first impact in the scene, what are your goals for 2018? Do you want to evolve your very own sound in another direction or maybe stick to the current status?

We’re already working on some new Cryptae stuff as we speak, but we’re probably going to finish another project of ours first.

14. René, Kees, thank you very much for your time and answers. As this is the end of our interview, feel free to leave some closing words to my readers and maybe your fans.

Thank you for the interview! We’ll leave you all with this quote by writer J.G. Ballard: “Memories have huge staying power, but like dreams, they thrive in the dark, surviving for decades in the deep waters of our minds like shipwrecks on the sea bed.”

]]>Belus - Apopheniahttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/belus-apophenia/
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 22:39:21 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/belus-apophenia/
Sometimes I&rsquo;m terrified of my heart; of its constant hunger for whatever it wants. The way it stops and starts. Its seek for hope and light. And its desire for darkness, dissonance and despair. And I&rsquo;m even more terrified how Belus feeds my hearts most urgent needs. For joy - within desolation. For trepidation - with playfulness. For purity - in diversity.
With all those conflicting elements, &ldquo;Apophenia&rdquo; is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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Sometimes I’m terrified of my heart; of its constant hunger for whatever it wants. The way it stops and starts. Its seek for hope and light. And its desire for darkness, dissonance and despair. And I’m even more terrified how Belus feeds my hearts most urgent needs. For joy - within desolation. For trepidation - with playfulness. For purity - in diversity.

With all those conflicting elements, “Apophenia” is a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the one side, there are many ingredients where Belus reach far beyond the borders of common black metal. Playful, almost cheerful moments. Especially on the drums. When “Chasm” begins with some almost funky groove. Or “Monolith” incorporates disco-like vibe and off-beats. When there are patterns that exceed the usually straight forward approach that defines the genre ‘black metal’. Or when the harmonies indicate some slight moments of hope. All those elements might hint into a totally misleading direction since most take place on the very fist songs of the album.

But very soon Belus show the other part of their Janus-face. There are many discomforting moments, dissonant riffs and chaotic blastbeats. On most of “Apophenia” there is no light, no hope, no salvation. It is pure darkness and banefull atmosphere. Many moments remind me of German Unru which have a similar unsettling approach in their harmonies. Combined with a similar attitude on blast beats, Belus create discomforting moments that exchange with their open-minded influences for riffing and song-structures.

Some riffs are as eerie, morbid and playful as Negative Plane. And there are even some reminiscences to Dark Funeral in “Psychosis” as I might recognise influences from Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega in “Avarice”. But those similarities may result from the very own, forward thinking idea Belus shares with those named bands.

“Apophenia” is more than the sum of its ingredients and influences. It is a inconvenient and disruptive album. From chaotic and utterly discomforting moments to progressive and psychedelic passages to almost playful elements, there is a variety of ingredients that Belus incorporate to form their very own vision of dismal atmosphere. It is a forward-thinking black metal album for open-minded listeners.

And with its blend of nightmarish atmosphere, pure chaos and controlled segments, taken from many different styles, it is an unique experience within this extreme kind of music. It feeds my heart. Its constant hunger of ambivalent needs. But mainly its dark and morbid obsessions that find the beauty in the dissonance. I totally feel discomforted. But satisfied as well.

]]>Auðn - Farvegir fyrndarhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/audn-farvegir-fyrndar/
Wed, 22 Nov 2017 22:05:46 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/audn-farvegir-fyrndar/
With their second album &ldquo;Farvegir fyrndar&rdquo; Auðn find a perfect balance between grounded and traditional black metal and the more atmospheric and transcendental interpretation of the genre. It is a melodic, melancholic album with very versatile songs that coherently flow from calm to harsh to majestic to furious.
With the spirit of Winterfylleth, the roots in Norway and a similar approach on post-rock like Fen, Auðn create an dense and moony album.
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With their second album “Farvegir fyrndar” Auðn find a perfect balance between grounded and traditional black metal and the more atmospheric and transcendental interpretation of the genre. It is a melodic, melancholic album with very versatile songs that coherently flow from calm to harsh to majestic to furious.
With the spirit of Winterfylleth, the roots in Norway and a similar approach on post-rock like Fen, Auðn create an dense and moony album. “Farvegir fyrndar” is both grimm and harsh on one side and a melancholic transcendence on the other.

Although there are some hints towards contemporary elements of post-rock and post-black metal, those ingredients are well placed and discreet interwoven with the other parts. Often those fragile and playful moments are used to start a song, reminding me sometimes of the bleak parts of the soundtrack to “Twin Peaks”.

As a fundament, most of the time there is this this special forest-and-meadows vibe, originating in the classic Norwegian style. Songs like “Eilifar nætur” or “Blóðrauð sól” are best examples for the more traditional influences for Auðn. But often there are sudden yet consistent turns into more wide walls of harmonies, build up by great lead-melodies, forming a dense, majestic and melancholic atmosphere. One of the best examples might be the beautiful solo guitar in “Sksuggar” that extends the more classical influences to a new level.

With this mixture of harsh blazing blastbeats and consequent use of atmospheric harmonies, the songs develop over their running time, creating exciting turns. Well placed but more subtle elements enrich the music furthermore. Slight harmonies played on bass, which is unfortunately to quiet in the background. Or some nice patterns on the tom-toms. Or the surprising end of “Ljósaslæður”, which turns into a dissonant and baneful counterpart to the beginning of this track.

In this balance between playful instruments, versatile song-writing, catching atmosphere and a mindset between traditional and contemporary black metal, “Farvegir fyrndar” is a really awesome melodic black metal album.

]]>Aosoth - V: The Inside Scriptureshttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/aosoth-v-the-inside-scriptures/
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 22:32:11 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/aosoth-v-the-inside-scriptures/
This is the closing chapter of Aosoths current musical and lyrical concept. Uncertain what that means for the future of the band, it is undoubtful that &ldquo;V: The Inside Scriptures&rdquo; marks the most mature output they have delivered so far. And that makes this record one of the most important black metal records of this year.
Still Aosoth maintain their dissonant and baneful approach. Many moments exchange between grinding repetitions and nightmarish atonal riffs.
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This is the closing chapter of Aosoths current musical and lyrical concept. Uncertain what that means for the future of the band, it is undoubtful that “V: The Inside Scriptures” marks the most mature output they have delivered so far. And that makes this record one of the most important black metal records of this year.

Still Aosoth maintain their dissonant and baneful approach. Many moments exchange between grinding repetitions and nightmarish atonal riffs. Surely there are some reminiscences to their landsman Deathspell Omega. But although Aosoth act in similarly obscure way, their execution is more direct. Maybe closer to the unsettling minimalism that Portal offers. And that’s only one aspect of “V”. Maybe the best know aspect of the band yet.

On the other hand there are more moments of absurd and eerie grooves. At some points there may be some parallels to the more abstract and distant understanding of harmonies that made Blut Aus Nord popular. Aosoth incorporate those elements perfectly into their trademark sound, create a versatile imagery on “V”, maintaining their discomforting and intense own profile.

Best showcase for this majestic yet disturbing mixture is the opening “A Heart To Judge” which exchanges nightmarish and bizarre melodies with baneful and blazing moments, incorporating unsettling mid-tempos with really haunting harmonies. Just for the very next song taking a massive turn into the more rude and dismal direction. There is still some kind of abstract groove, but on in a more direct way than the first song offered.

The title track combines all aspects into the most outstanding moment on this album. Sudden changes in tempo meet both grinding repetitions and disturbing harmonies. But this is not even the climax for “V”. Aosoth stay on this way, somewhere between dense atmosphere and an oppressive nightmare, creating beautiful harmonies in “Contaminating All Tongues” that emerge from an abstract, industrial-eske intro. Just to introduce another, surprising element in “Silver Dagger And The Brealess Smile”: A slight moment of hope!
Some melodies suddenly indicate that there might be some rays of light in this dark and ugly record. But that was only a brief moment. The darkness soon comes back, dwells and drowns everything in repeating gloom. The hope dies fast, in the same way the heartbeat in the outro of this song stops.

And this dying heart is a beautiful piece in the concept of Aosoth. Somehow it is part of the bands name, that was taken from goddess in the pantheon of the Order of the Nine Angles which has been described with an arrow in her heart, unable to remove it since she would die otherwise. A tormented yet strong figure. This image was present on previous releases by the band as well. And now the heart has stopped beating as this album is the end of the lyrical and musical concept. It is a pity. Because Aosoth found a perfect balance for versatile songs between nightmarish and repetitive brutality and an awesome discomforting atmosphere.

]]>Desolate Shrine - Deliverance From The Godless Voidhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/desolate-shrine-deliverance-from-the-godless-void/
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 22:16:03 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/desolate-shrine-deliverance-from-the-godless-void/
Oh, this is a vile album. It is simply hopeless, baneful and nasty. It is not a record for those looking for beauty. But for those whose black heart find beauty in darkness. &ldquo;Deliverance From The Godless Void&rdquo; challenges the listener. With almost an hour of running time, it is an intense and demanding record. You may not listen to it as background music as you won&rsquo;t understand the message this incredible piece of darkness delivers.
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Oh, this is a vile album. It is simply hopeless, baneful and nasty. It is not a record for those looking for beauty. But for those whose black heart find beauty in darkness. “Deliverance From The Godless Void” challenges the listener. With almost an hour of running time, it is an intense and demanding record. You may not listen to it as background music as you won’t understand the message this incredible piece of darkness delivers. You need to pay attention towards every single second. And this might be a challenge due to this massive wall of impressions Desolate Shrine offer on their fourth album.

While most of the over 50 minutes of “Deliverance From The Godless Void” tend to act in an nightmarish mid-tempo, lurk from the the very dark corner of your mind, there are many moments, where Desolate Shrine emerge into furious and blazing blastbeats, destroying every single bit of hope. In some other moments, they take their time to create nightmarish walls of sound, creating abysmal soundscapes and dragging the audience deeper and deeper into their dismal grey world. In this aspect, the cover artwork just gives an excellent insight into the bleak and dreary vision this album creates and maintains over its overall running time.

Well hidden there are little hints of light and hope. As there might be one slight moment in “The Graeae”, during the instrumental interlude. Or when “… Of Hell” exchanges brutal protesting moments with more calm and discreet ones. But most of the time Desolate Shrine serve their very dark vision of extreme music. It emancipates from those typical genre borders, escapes death, black or doom metal. It is forward thinking and partly looks behind all borders, emerges towards post-death metal, to dimensions Ulcerate, Ulsect, Beyond Terror, Beyond Grace or Inter Arma already have passed. But as all of them, “Deliverance From The Godless Void” evolved far beyond the current state of extreme music and creates a part of a bigger, more baneful entity.

As all of this might foreshadow, there are little catchy riffs and moments on this album. Although “Demonic Evocation Prayer” or “The Waters Of Man” offer some slight moments of intoxicating harmonies, most of “Deliverance From The Goddless Void” is pure evil and dark atmosphere. Nevertheless there are many enjoyable moments - as far as you can see the beauty in the dissonance, the darkness, the baneful and nightmarish. But once you can see the discomforting image Desolate Shrine created with this album, it will swallow you, just like “Pickman’s Model” did with his reader.

]]>Yellow Eyes - Immersion Trench Reveriehttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/yellow-eyes-immersion-trench-reverie/
Mon, 06 Nov 2017 22:35:08 +0100void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/yellow-eyes-immersion-trench-reverie/
Although Yellow Eyes are around since about seven years and released three albums yet, I just recently became aware of them. My interest even grew when I heard that drummer Mike is also involved in Fell Voices and the awesome Vanum and filled in for Ash Borer on stage. On their recent tour through Europe I visited their first show in Cologne and was instantly blown away by the power the quartet delivered.
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Although Yellow Eyes are around since about seven years and released three albums yet, I just recently became aware of them. My interest even grew when I heard that drummer Mike is also involved in Fell Voices and the awesome Vanum and filled in for Ash Borer on stage. On their recent tour through Europe I visited their first show in Cologne and was instantly blown away by the power the quartet delivered. As I knew about the difficulties in forehand (singer and guitar-player Will injured his hand when cutting the cover for the tapes of “Immersion Trench Reverie” and their equipment literally arrived last minute for the show) it was even more impressive to see the band showing massive presence in a semi-legal venue on relatively poor backline.

Their latest release “Immersion Trench Reverie” is not less impressive. It offers an organic sound. Especially on the drums that are not polished but raw, with the same feeling that they had on that show in that small venue. What some might interpret as “low-fi” surely results in the process of recording, which happened in a cabin in Connecticut and gives the album even more substance. But the unconventional sound of the drums is the only draw-back this record offers. The guitars act outstanding and create impressive walls of polyphonic harmonies. Next to the grim and agonized vocals they form this very special mood that makes “Immersion Trench Reverie” outstanding!

There is no track on this album that does not contain wonderful polyphonic melodies, ranging from cold, deserted and frost-bitten to majestic, from hypnotic and haunting to playful and thrilling. Those harmonies create a dense atmosphere that is exciting from beginning to the end. Especially as every song is knot to the previous with an acoustic stringent sample, filled with an omni-present carillon and even female chorals. That makes “Immersion Trench Reverie” a whole as every song tells a story for itself.

As “Old Alpine Pang” or “Blue As Blue” show the more majestic aspect of Yellow Eyes, “Shrillness In The Heated Grass” becomes pure awesomeness. It is driven by incredibly catchy harmonies that are both hypnotic and disturibing, but still have this exciting twists. Partly the melodies turn into opposite direction and create a really eerie mood. Yet still they develop further and further, incorporating a wave-like part for the first time on this album and take interesting twists.

The title-track continues with some influences from wave or post-punk as well, offers some more dreamy and playful moments, even some escapism just to break down in a ghastly down-tempo part which has a beautiful harmonic solution again. It is full of fire and energy and great melodies.

And on the other hand “Velvet On The Horns” lives from its minimal and repetitive riffs, creating an hypnotic and nightmarish atmosphere. Yet it is still intoxicating and offers moments of escapism as well. “Jubilat” continues in this way, offering a wide range of harmonics and emotions, closing the album in an intense and fiery way.

After an intense journey over 45 minutes, Yellow Eyes created an outstanding album. It is both majestic and fierce, offering forward-thinking and formidable melodies while maintaining the raw and direct attitude of the musics roots. “Immersion Trench Reverie” is an album that lives up to its name. It takes the listener and draws him into a beautiful yet disturbing dream. And with this image in mind the extraordinary artwork of this record makes totally sense. Although it does not fulfil any genre-clichés. For me it is another positive aspect on this records. What a pity that Yellow Eyes didn’t have any LP available on their tour through Europe. But at least the tape came with a download code. And a very nice package, including all lyrics on in a minimalistic booklet.

]]>Myteri - Ruinerhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/myteri-ruiner/
Sun, 15 Oct 2017 22:19:50 +0200void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/myteri-ruiner/
A storm is blowing. Thunder growls from far away. A bleak and melancholic guitar opens for a lugubrious introduction. But after just two minutes Myteri is fed up with beeing somberly. That&rsquo;s the moment when &ldquo;Ruiner&rdquo; explodes into furiosly fast d-beats. From this point the rest of the record is angry and hopeless. Yet still with this melancholic sadness and beautiful harmonies.
But although &ldquo;Ruiner&rdquo; is a fast crustcore album, it is far away from beeing dull.
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A storm is blowing. Thunder growls from far away. A bleak and melancholic guitar opens for a lugubrious introduction. But after just two minutes Myteri is fed up with beeing somberly. That’s the moment when “Ruiner” explodes into furiosly fast d-beats. From this point the rest of the record is angry and hopeless. Yet still with this melancholic sadness and beautiful harmonies.

But although “Ruiner” is a fast crustcore album, it is far away from beeing dull. There are many exciting turns that make the songs interesting. For example there is more melodic punk rock in “Mörka Ätervändsgränder”. Or some tribal drumming in both “Dädens Hav” and “Hatets Fanbärare” which adds some extra flavour to the mostly straight uptempo d-beats. But those aren’t even the most exciting moments on “Ruiner”. There are some extra heavy and nihilistic moments that remind me of early Fall Of Efrafa or maybe Planks.
But still Myteri is not an ordinary crust-punk band relying on three chords to deliver their dark and dystopic visions. Their abilities go far beyond. There are always great melodies on “Ruiner”, often played polyphonic. And with the final track “Urholkningsprocessen” they even spare out all elments from crust or hardcore, delivering an outstanding post-rock song.

This great ability of writing songs and melodies gets additional depth by adding some great violines to the phantastic “Justitiemord” or “Lida I Tysthet” - which reminds me a little bit of Morrow. And the later has even some pianos in it for another bleak layer of atmosphere.

With all those outstanding ingredients there is no filler on “Ruiner”. All songs are on the same high level and offer many great hits. Additionally the album artwork is awesome as well. I really like the burning graves in front of those old buildings and the hooded creature that dominates the scene.

If you liked Alpinist, Mässmörd or Fall Of Efrafa, enjoy Tragedy and dig bands like Unkind or Livstid, you will definitively love Myteri! This record is the best crust album of the year.

It will be released on 1000 LPs, 300 in white-black haze, 200 in grey-black haze and the rest on black wax. Additionally there will be a download code and a poster in the heavy gatefold jacket. And for those prefering digital music, there is a download and stream on bandcamp yet.

]]>Wolves in the Throne Room - Thrice Wovenhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/wolves-in-the-throne-room-thrice-woven/
Tue, 10 Oct 2017 20:42:09 +0200void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/wolves-in-the-throne-room-thrice-woven/
I think Wolves In The Throne Room do not need any further introduction. They were one of the early bands, next to Weakling or Alcest, that embossed the term &ldquo;post-black metal&rdquo;. Since their first album &ldquo;Diadem Of The 12 Stars&rdquo; they have their solid fan base and grew in both popularity and reputation within the scene. But their last record &ldquo;Celestite&rdquo; did not quiet match most expectations. To much Ambient sound and too little black metal.
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I think Wolves In The Throne Room do not need any further introduction. They were one of the early bands, next to Weakling or Alcest, that embossed the term “post-black metal”. Since their first album “Diadem Of The 12 Stars” they have their solid fan base and grew in both popularity and reputation within the scene. But their last record “Celestite” did not quiet match most expectations. To much Ambient sound and too little black metal. But now there is “Thrice Woven” and WITTR continue were they stopped on “Celestial Lineage”.

With five songs over more than 42 minutes they keep up their style that became famous under the moniker of “cascadian black metal” and deliver 42 minutes of high qualitity, outstanding black metal. Sublime in every second, sometimes more melancholic, occasionally harsh and direct yet mostly atmospheric. And even if there are some rude breaks, interupting the songs at several points, WITTR manage to keep their songs fluent and coherent.

The opening “Born From Th Serpent’s Eye” may be one of the best examples to showcase the versatile style of “Thrice Woven” best. It starts with some chinkings before exploding in majestic black metal. It becomes faster and flows into a dreamful downtempo passage before taking several turns and a final dissolution into a calm part, combined with female chorals. Afterwards it has some post-rock moments as well as a climax into escapism.

The more relaxed part of this track as well as the interlude “Mother Owl, Father Ocean” remind me a little bit of Myrkur, which adds a refreshing new flavour to WITTR on “Thrice Woven”. Same for the clean part in “The Old Ones Are With Us” that catches up the introductional sample and has some reminiscence to Killing Joke. Or the synthie-elements in “Fire Roar In The Place Of The Moon”.

All together Wolves In The Throne Room take their trademark elements of majestic, distant black metal and enrich them with interesting new ideas and turns. Repetitive and reduced riffs create a great atmosphere, drag the audience out of this world. Those repetitions do not even get boring during their excecution but underline their attitude of escapism and transcendence.

Combined with their outstanding ability of the band to form catching harmonies within those iterative moments and offer interesting turns in their songs, “Thrice Woven” is again a great milestone in “cascadian black metal” as in black metal in general.

]]>ColdWorld - Wolves And Sheephttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/coldworld-wolves-and-sheep/
Sat, 07 Oct 2017 00:44:24 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/coldworld-wolves-and-sheep/
As my first contat to ColdWorld with its last album &ldquo;Autumn&rdquo; was more than impressing, I immediately had to get hold on their latest output &ldquo;Wolves And Sheep&rdquo;. But this time it is a little bit different. It is &ldquo;just&rdquo; an ep. With two songs it spreads over almost 25 Minutes. But the vocabulary is more simplified than it was on the last album. There are no elements of post-black metal, no more shoegaze and even no more passages with clean sung vocals, neither male nor female.
Read More…<![CDATA[

As my first contat to ColdWorld with its last album “Autumn” was more than impressing, I immediately had to get hold on their latest output “Wolves And Sheep”. But this time it is a little bit different. It is “just” an ep. With two songs it spreads over almost 25 Minutes. But the vocabulary is more simplified than it was on the last album. There are no elements of post-black metal, no more shoegaze and even no more passages with clean sung vocals, neither male nor female. “Wolves And Sheeps” is more or less an mini-album of classical, melodic yet atmospheric black metal.

But within this boubdaries it is still a recommendable release. Straight and repetitive moments of awesome harmonies mark the title track. Cold and yet majestic and cold melodies mark most of the song. Especially the bass plays an important role in within the melodic construct. Even there is a major breakdown after a noisy desolution in the middle of the track, the main themes are adapted after a short interlude of blastbeats. With all of its variations the song maintains fluid, coherent. And to its ending there are still some remarkable soundscapes of post-rock that knot to the last album “Autumn”.

“The Cave” takes more attention by the audience. More than three quarter of those 12 Minutes are introductional sound-scapes. With samples and ambient-like elements it takes a long introduction to only three and a half “real” song. It is more repetitive than the first part of “Wolves And Sheep” yet still melodic. In its chorus it has a nice turn into a wave-like structure and offers remarkable moments as well. It is a pitty that it suddently stops and does not continue in a similar way as the first “Wolves And Sheep” did.

But overall I really enjoyed this ep. Especially the first track has a lot of awesome melodies that stick into my ear and made the song outstanding and catchy. Even if this ep is not on the same versatile level as “Autumn” was before, it is still a great appetizer for the things to come by ColdWorld.

Since the pressed CDs are already sold out, you still have the chance to get the music digitally on the bands bandcamp profile.

]]>Vanum - Burning Arrowhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/vanum-burning-arrow/
Fri, 06 Oct 2017 23:02:09 +0200void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/vanum-burning-arrow/
Frankly, I recognized the name-droping afterwards only. Members of Fell Voices, Yellow Eyes, Predatory Lights and Ash Borer (among others), teamed up to form a band. Vanum. And this ep called &ldquo;Burning Arrow&rdquo; is their second output after a full-length called &ldquo;Realm Of Sacrifice&rdquo;. As said: I just learned about this background after several spins of this ep in my stereo. I was totally blewn away by the music. And the newly gathered knowledge of the members behind Vanum makes it even more unerstandable.
Read More…<![CDATA[

Frankly, I recognized the name-droping afterwards only. Members of Fell Voices, Yellow Eyes, Predatory Lights and Ash Borer (among others), teamed up to form a band. Vanum. And this ep called “Burning Arrow” is their second output after a full-length called “Realm Of Sacrifice”. As said: I just learned about this background after several spins of this ep in my stereo. I was totally blewn away by the music. And the newly gathered knowledge of the members behind Vanum makes it even more unerstandable.

To be honest, there are not many words to say about “Burning Arrow”. It is an ep that lives from it’s atmosphere. From the majestic approach, the grinding repitition of its great harmonies. The grim and distant escapism that is created by the awesome harmonies, which are sometimes polyphonic and more often catchy yet dreamful with only one guitar.

With only three songs this ep manages to fill almost 25 minutes of intoxicating black metal. Very melodic, sometimes a little bit harsh, every time sublime. Every second is fluent between either majestic midtempo or harsh blazing blastbeats. Everything within a song is as coherent as the whole ep is consistint in itself.

Even the rare carpets of keyboard harmonies act as a supplement to the greater image Vanum create on “Burning Arrow”. Those ingredients are not used as to end in itself but to complement those dense atmospheric parts.

In the end “Burning Arrow” is just an awesome mini-album. It is full of catching harmonies and great attitude. It drags me into a distant world of cold majesty and creates almost half an hour of dreamful escapism - even if the artwork might tell another story.

]]>Time Lurkerhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2017/time-lurker/
Tue, 03 Oct 2017 20:32:52 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2017/time-lurker/
1. Ahoy Mick. Thank you for your time. It is really a pleasure to have you as an interview partner. Your self-titled compilation spend hours and hours of joy to me. Or maybe more precise: Hours of emotional journey. From escapism to this baneful trepidation to relief and katharsis. All of this although &ldquo;Time Lurker&rdquo; is not a real album with a consequent concept behind it. Or maybe I&rsquo;m wrong and you already intended this coherent structur spanning over several releases?
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1. Ahoy Mick. Thank you for your time. It is really a pleasure to have you as an interview partner. Your self-titled compilation spend hours and hours of joy to me. Or maybe more precise: Hours of emotional journey. From escapism to this baneful trepidation to relief and katharsis. All of this although “Time Lurker” is not a real album with a consequent concept behind it. Or maybe I’m wrong and you already intended this coherent structur spanning over several releases?

Thanks to you for the interview, it is a great pleasure. To answer your question, I first have to explain how it all started. I started Time Lurker by composing EP1 and EP2 during the same period, therefore they fit sequentially: it was an album for me. At the beginning, before signing with Les Acteurs De L’Ombre, I did not wanted to release them at the same time. For the auto-produced digital format, I thought it was better to split the album in 2 EPs, by spacing out the releases, with different artworks. It all went quickly after the release of EP1 - by signing with LADLO, we decided to reunite the two EP in one, either in LP and CD format.

2. On your bandcamp profile you state “Time Lurker” as “Album is EP I and EP II”. I could not find any information on the ep “II” on the internet. So please tell me about this ominous ep “II”? Was it ever released physically?

This is true, I did not do anything for EP2… In fact, it is in the album, with its own artwork (the one with an eye). I did not release it separately yet, I do not think that this is useful - everything is in the album. However, Malleus Records, who released EP1 on tape, wants to release EP2 separately… why not…

3. For “I” there was a tape via Mallevs Records, the track “Ethereal Hands” was released digital only. Information on both can be found on metal-archives.com. So assuming that you already released two eps both physically and digitally (assumption without knowledge about the answer on question 2.), why did you deceide to put out both eps again as a compilation? Was this your idea? Or have Les Acteurs de l’ombre and Monotonstudio Records asked you for it? I’m really happy about this release, otherwise I might not have get in touch with your music…

Well, as I said in the first two questions: I released EP1, then everything happended rapidly, I signed with LADLO and we decided it was better to [release them as one album instead of individual] EP1 and EP2.

4. Do you think the release of the “Time Lurker” compilation brought you a wider audience as you had before? Are you satisfied with the reactions of new fans and media yet?

There is a clearly a wider audience, of course, I can easily see that thanks to the promotion work done by LADLO. I am very satisfied with my news fans in the way that they all came from different style of Black Metal and they can, in a general way, notice my influences, etc… This is very gratifying.

5. Since I don’t have any information about your ep “II” (yet), your first ep “I” as well as the single song “Ethereal Hands” where both released in 2016. Just one year later, you put out the compilation, so there was not much time to put out 2 EPs. But since the beginning of Time Lurker in 2014 you already released about 50 minutes of music. That is impressive. Did you write all songs in advance of the release of “I” or was the ep “II” written after the release of your first output?

As said in question 1, both EP1 and EP2 was written at the same time - I just wanted to space out the releases, meanwhile I have signed with LADLO, this is why EP2 never came out seperatly.

6. Okay, you just released two eps and both of them again as a compilation. Are you currently working on a full-length album? Or are you more the guy for shorter releases, likes eps and maybe splits? Do you already have a band with whom you might want to do a split release? I could imagine that Paramnesia might be a good choice…

Paramnesia would indeed be my favorite choice… First of all because I personally know them since many years. However, this is not planned yet, we both have a tight schedule… For Time Lurker, I still don’t know - I do have some composition and lots of ideas, but I have a job that does not give me much spare time at the moment. We will have to wait…

7. Do you write your music with a clear concept? For me “Time Lurker” in total as well as the single bits of your eps form the image of a conceptual work. Like “Rupture” and “Judgement” building one unit, “Reborn” continuing the ideas of “Ethereal Hands” and introducing “No Way Out From Mankind”. Or like “Passage” is a prelude to “Whispering From Space” to me.

Well, I like to compose as if I was writing a scenario. That is why I prefer to work on my own, it gives more consistency. The entire album is indeed a story, with ups and downs, different phases, different emotions…
I wrote in a way that the album as to be listen from the beginning ‘till the end: For example, I think the „No Way Out From Mankind“ does not have the same impact if we do not listen to „Reborn“ before…

8. Unfortunately I have none of your lyrics at hand. “Rupture”, “Judgment” or “No Way Out From Mankind” might give a slight hint. And “Whispering From Space” is clearly inspired by the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft - at least for me. So could your roughly explain your lyrical concept to me?

The concept is quite blurry. For me, it is more about pure emotions fitting with different phases of my life. I can’t fit one emotion in one particular song, I want the song to evolve with me, echoing everything that is left to live. Same thing for the listener, I want them to feel the song, to see its own demons.
Generally speaking, I wanted to tackle issues as depression, misanthropy on philosophical or even cosmic ways…

9. For me all of your songs show a wide range of influences. Of course there is some more traditional black metal within your music. But I hear some elements from atmospheric or post-black metal as well as some moments of the newer interpretations like “blackgaze”. Especially in “Reborn”, “Ethereal Hands” or “Whispering From Space”. But you also use some moments taken from Ambient as well as there are some passages that remind me of the “Memoria Vetusta”-cycle by Blut Aus Nord.
Where do you see your influences and what was your motiv when creating Time Lurker?

I am by myself, I have no limits, this is really important for me. My influences are limitless, the difficulty was to keep a consistency - at the bottom of it all, I want to write what I would want to hear as a listener.

10. The French black metal scene offers a very exciting alternative to the prototypical Scandinavian interpretation of the genre. Most bands have this special twist and sound outstanding. Just to mention a few: Deathspell Omega, Aosoth, Way To End, The Great Old Ones, Blut Aus Nord or Paramnesia. So it seems that there are many creative people living in your country. What do you think makes Frances so outstanding in black metal?

This is hard to answer, I can’t talk for all the bands: first of all, I don’t think there is a will to be outstanding - anyway, this is not my choice. I could have played true black, death or something more traditional if I wanted to. I still listen to a lot of those, but this was not what I wanted to play.

11. Although there are many great bands in France, Time Lurker still acts as a one-piece-band. Don’t you find any musicians in your area? Or don’t you want any other influences or opinions in Time Lurker since you already have a fixed image on the overall sound, atmosphere and feeling of the band?

I had some small bands as a teenager, but nothing serious, mostly because of me. I feel not comfortable playing in a band. With Time Lurker, I just wanted to find myself, express ideas without any limits or pressure. Now that I kind of externalized myself, I will not be against playing in band.

12. I really like the artworks you used for your releases. But frankly I’ve never heard of Jo Mot Rot. And relying on metal-archives.com, he made artworks for you only. So please tell me more about it. Who is he? Did he create the artworks from scratch or did you already have an image in mind?

Jo Mot Rot is my little brother. I was searching for someone to create EP1’s artwork, but as for music, I was very strict about the drawing. Back then, Jo did not drawn that much anymore. However I ask him to give it a try: that is how he came up with that amazing skull. He is now a tattoo artist, he is totally dedicated to drawing.

13. Well, one really stupid question at the end of our chat: Does Time Lurker play shows? If yes, do you have session musicians or rely on semi-playback?

I unfortunately do not have time for that now. But I like the idea, if I have to do this, I want to do this right - I will take the time when I can.

14. Mick, thank you very much for your time and answers. I’m really looking forward to any new release by you. Take the opportunity and leave your last words to me, my readers and your fans.

Thanks to you and all the listener for supporting me, I really appreciate, it motivates me to go on and to give the best of me. I will take all the time I need, but be sure that I am not over!

]]>Dråp - Rotten Till Allt Onthttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/drap-rotten-till-allt-ont/
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 23:02:09 +0200void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/drap-rotten-till-allt-ont/
With its classical grindcore artwork &ldquo;Rotten Till Allt Ont&rdquo; tells just a part of its story. Surely it has its roots in grindcore. But there are many more influences for Dråp, making their second album outstanding!
As said, on the one hand there are those furious bursts into fast blastbeats. But there is always this special dark and dystopic feeling. So those influences definitively remind me of Nasum. But there is Crust/D-Beat/Hardcore in the vein of Tragedy as well as there are slight ingredients from Swedisch Death Metal.
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With its classical grindcore artwork “Rotten Till Allt Ont” tells just a part of its story. Surely it has its roots in grindcore. But there are many more influences for Dråp, making their second album outstanding!

As said, on the one hand there are those furious bursts into fast blastbeats. But there is always this special dark and dystopic feeling. So those influences definitively remind me of Nasum. But there is Crust/D-Beat/Hardcore in the vein of Tragedy as well as there are slight ingredients from Swedisch Death Metal. All gets mixed with this special atmosphere and forward-thinking attitude of Neurosis. Alltogether Dråp form an awesome second album.

On the first listen many Riffs seem to be straight to the core. But the songs are intelligently arranged. “Ärrvävnad” uses very cool harmonies over harsh grinding blastbeats. Or “Hat för en Livstid” has this beautiful dissolution into a blackened and atmospheric part. Those are examples of the dystopic dissonances that maintain throughout the whole album.
In “Yttersta Domen” it get’s even more this Neurosis-vibe, in “Nederlag” it has this combination of Nasum and Tragedy; violent d-beats get mixed with great soundscapes. Even the instrumental interlude “Eremit” has an intense development and banefull atmosphere.

And Dråp know that they do not even have to be high speed all the time to express their dark visions. In “Överväld” or the title-track they showcase their abilities to play in brutal midtempo without loosing intensity. Just to burst out into blazing grindcore in the very next second. But over all tempi “Rotten Till Allt Ont” is nasty and hopeless.

In this mixture Dråp present a pissed and nihilistic album. It is dark and dystopic. And due to all those influences from different styles it is an impressing and outstanding piece of hate.

]]>Myrkur - Mareridthttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/myrkur-mareridt/
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 21:51:08 +0200void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/myrkur-mareridt/
Although it is just her third output (ignoring those singles and the live album &ldquo;Mausoleum&rdquo;), Myrkur has come a long way. Starting with a tribute to the second wave of black metal with her self-titled debut ep, she got a lot of controversial attention. With first full-length &ldquo;M&rdquo; her style started to emancipate from many conventions. &ldquo;Mareridt&rdquo; is just another step in this development. But there is still some way to go for Myrkur.
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Although it is just her third output (ignoring those singles and the live album “Mausoleum”), Myrkur has come a long way. Starting with a tribute to the second wave of black metal with her self-titled debut ep, she got a lot of controversial attention. With first full-length “M” her style started to emancipate from many conventions. “Mareridt” is just another step in this development. But there is still some way to go for Myrkur.

Frankly, I was not really fond of the “Myrkur”-ep. I think it was too rumbling and did not catch me. But I really like the turnaround on “M”. It was more a collage than an album, showing many facets and ideas, breaking up traditional genre-boundaries.

Now there is “Mareridt”. And it is not an album that you might instantly enjoy. Even if you liked “M”. First of all most black metal is gone. There are only two tracks, “Måneblôt” and “Gladiatrix”, that incorporate blastbeats. And although there are some other hints towards this kind of music in “Ulvinde” or “Elleskudt”, Myrkur moves into a totally other direction.

There are hints to pop music, similar to Lana Del Rey on “The Crown” or even the blastbeat driven “Gladiatrix”. But on the other side, the is still this dark undertone, bringing tracks like “The Serpent” closer to Chelsea Wolfe, Fvnerals or Sinistro. So it is no wonder that “Funeral” is featuring Chelsea Wolfe by herself.

In the end, there are many influences on “Mareridt”. More than ever before. From (Wave-)Pop to Doom-Folk to reminiscences of black metal. All combined by the omnipresent awareness of folk and medieval instruments and harmonies.
“Mareridt” might be even more a collage than “M” already was. In this aspect Myrkur made a consequent continuation. But for me she is still on her way to find her very own style. I’m looking forward to hear her next album and the turnaround it will take.

But I do not want to call “Mareridt” a bad album. It is different. Sometimes it is cheesy. And the spoken-word outro “Børnehjem” is somehow useless. But there are good ideas, from black metal as well as from pop music, that makes this an enjoyable album.

]]>Desecresy - The Mortal Horizonhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/desecresy-the-mortal-horizon/
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 20:32:05 +0200void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/desecresy-the-mortal-horizon/
Picasso had his &ldquo;blue period&rdquo;, creating melancholic figure paintings. After two albums with a different color-scheme Desecresy return to this analogy that came to my mind with their second record &ldquo;The Doom Skeptron&rdquo;. Again, there is this omnipresent bale. Both within the music and on the cover artwork. Again there is this image of a skull, reminding the beholder of ever lurking death. And again Desecresy present themself as an independent doom-death metal band with their very own trademark sound.
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Picasso had his “blue period”, creating melancholic figure paintings. After two albums with a different color-scheme Desecresy return to this analogy that came to my mind with their second record “The Doom Skeptron”. Again, there is this omnipresent bale. Both within the music and on the cover artwork. Again there is this image of a skull, reminding the beholder of ever lurking death. And again Desecresy present themself as an independent doom-death metal band with their very own trademark sound. This time maybe with their best output so far.

After “Stoic Death” vocalist Jarno Nurmi left the band, leaving Tommi Grönqvist handling everything by himself. As a result the sound became darker, the vocals and guitars went deeper than ever before.

While Desecresy never made music for the masses, “The Mortal Horizon” got even more special. Still it has those very unique harmonies. Those haunting melodies are eerie, morbid and somehow melancholic; sometimes pushing and full of energy. But in very rare moments calm, almost in the background. They create a ghostly, bleak atmosphere.

Then there is still this crude approach by Grönqvist. The songs are minimalistic, raw, archaic. There are some moments where the harsh uptempo passages are very close to bestial / war metal. The brutal blastbeats in “Excavation” even remind me of early grindcore. But “The Mortal Horizon” is not about stupid thrashing. Too many passages take advantage of pushing midtempo, incorporating Bolt Thrower-like doublebass and driving riffing.
But it isn’t even about this stoic groove. It is only another well placed ingredient.

Most of the time there is this ritualistic touch to the songs. Many stop’n go moments, reduced drums and obscure rhythms. Some beats might sound if Tommi isn’t able to play drums better. Maybe he isn’t, as some passages are really rumbling. But there are some odd breaks and patterns that seem to be well calculated. At least they create this dark and unique vibe that makes Desecresy outstanding.

“The Mortal Horizon” is not a beautiful album. It is harsh, it is minimalistic, it is raw, it is rumbling. There are no outstanding hits. But it has this baneful atmosphere, created by haunting melodies, polyphone harmonies and ritualistic percussions. It is dark, deep and vile. It is very unique doom-death metal aside of any trends or conventions. But with a very own character.

]]>Engulfed - Engulfed In Obscurityhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/engulfed-engulfed-in-obscurity/
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 10:34:59 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/engulfed-engulfed-in-obscurity/
With members of bands like Hellsodomy and Burial Invocation a relatively new dark death metal force emerges from Turkey. Engulfed already made their first impact into the scene with their ep &ldquo;Through The Eternal Damnation&rdquo;. Unfortunately this output did not really catch my attention. Now there is the debut &ldquo;Engulfed In Obscurity&rdquo; which is an immense piece of dark art.
With over 50 minutes running time and songs lasting between five and seven minutes, this album could be challenging for the audience.
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With members of bands like Hellsodomy and Burial Invocation a relatively new dark death metal force emerges from Turkey. Engulfed already made their first impact into the scene with their ep “Through The Eternal Damnation”. Unfortunately this output did not really catch my attention. Now there is the debut “Engulfed In Obscurity” which is an immense piece of dark art.

With over 50 minutes running time and songs lasting between five and seven minutes, this album could be challenging for the audience. But Engulfed manage to get the right balance between beastiality, chaos, furious eruptions, baneful atmosphere and intelligent details. So this record does not get boring at any time.

Often there are slow, vicious passages, creating a slimy and manacing atmosphere. Just du burst into rampant anger and blazing blastbeats at the very next moment. Some guitars are obscure and dark. But in the very next song there is an extremely catchy riff that sticks to the ear for days. Yet Engulfed never get cheesy or pleasing. “Engulfed In Obscurity” is a grim and gloomy album.

As mentioned before: All those anger and nastiness is very sophisticated. For example those variation in pace in “Inseminated With Demon Seed”. Or the well placed break at the beginning of “Invocation Od Death And Misery”. Both are good examples how intelligent Engulfed writes their songs.
Same for the guitar lines. The instrumental introduction shows the great play between rhythm and lead already. Starting with “Conqueror From Beyond The Outer Gates” many harmonies are played polyphonic, creating dense and atmospheric soundscapes.
And there are many leads and solos that tell their very own story within their melodies. They supplement the music as well as the lyrics to create that gloom. Most beautiful in “Demonic Manifestion Of Devastation” where the solo is played over two different musical themes, creating completely different moods. Or in the title-track where the solo flows into the main lead of the song. That is an impressive example how Engulfed catches up single themes and varies them to create an exciting and intoxicating tracks.

“Engulfed In Obscurity” is an extremely good death metal album. Dark, baneful, furious and raging. Yet with intelligent details and diversified twists. And there are even some songs that stick out of this great overall image which makes the debut even more outstanding. Highly recommended.

]]>Fvneral Fvkkhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2017/fvneral-fvkk/
Fri, 04 Aug 2017 20:32:52 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/interviews/2017/fvneral-fvkk/
I. Salve Frater Flagellum! Welcome to the Church of the Nocturnal Silence! I hope you are free of sins to enter our small liturgy. So go down on your knees and tell me: Your name is a sacrilege, isn&rsquo;t it? When I first heard it, I thought about some dirty and fucked up death metal in the vein of Graveyard Ghoul, Repuked, Cryptic Brook and so on. Why have you chosen Fvneral Fvkk as the phelonion of your band?
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I. Salve Frater Flagellum! Welcome to the Church of the Nocturnal Silence! I hope you are free of sins to enter our small liturgy. So go down on your knees and tell me: Your name is a sacrilege, isn’t it? When I first heard it, I thought about some dirty and fucked up death metal in the vein of Graveyard Ghoul, Repuked, Cryptic Brook and so on. Why have you chosen Fvneral Fvkk as the phelonion of your band? In my humble opinion it is way to harsh for your melancholic and beautiful music…

May God shed his genital blessings upon you, poor lost soul in search of answers. I shall give my best to grant you the insight you seek for your strange little coven.
Partly, you already answered the question yourself. Our music is indeed melancholic and of some strange beauty, our message is clearly not. So we wanted that to be reflected in our name. It is like Christianity itself. Enter a cathedral, you will be amazed by the impressing beauty, listen to the choir and you feel touched by its haunting elegy. But look behind all the meaning of it and look at the priest in his dirty little private chambers, you will see there is stench and rot behind the facade.
Thus, the name is appropriate. Also I should mention, that the very first song-sketches for the band were much rougher and more brutal. It took us a while to develop to that exact sound we do today.

II. As Fvneral Fvkk consists of all Ophis except for Steffen, complemented by Niko from Fäulnis, please confess: Is this only a fun project? Or let me express this question in another way: Why did you start another doom band next to Ophis? Weren’t you busy enough with your main chapels?

We felt we owed our holy lord a service. Our main bands dealt with such irrelevant topics such as politics, society, depression and suicide. But what is really important? The word of the lord! He demands depravity and abuse! We shall spread his word.
And to answer more reliable: FVNERAL FVKK is a side project, but NOT a fun band. We take it seriously, especially the music. And we work on it with the same view on quality and the same blood as we do for our main bands. The only difference is, the other bands come first in priority when it comes to time and schedule. This means for example, that FF do not rehearse regularly, only for gigs or recording sessions. We only write stuff, when there is nothing to do with the other bands.

III. You all are guilty of bearing false witness! On the one hand you claim Fvneral Fvkk consisting of “members of Ophis, Fäulnis and Crimson Swan”. But you hide yourself behind pseudonyms. Okay, I understand that this is part of the concept behind your band. But does that mean that you will play in robes on stage as well?

Well, the pseudonyms do not hide much, as profane paparazzi like you have already discovered the ugly faces behind the even uglier masks, so the hiding effect is not that huge at all. Our appearance on stage remains to be seen, and I will not give away any details, but I guess it goes without saying that as ambassadors of the Chvrch of the Holy Fvkk, we can not enter the stage in t-shirts and slashed jeans, right?

IV. Let’s be honest: Heavy instrumentation, fragile clean vocals, religious topics with sexual hints and liturgical pseudonyms. Haven’t we heard a similar formula by Ghost yet? I don’t want to compare you to the Swedish pope-stars, because your music has more substance, deepness and heaviness. But weren’t there some comparisons yet?

Yes there were, and we totally do not understand that. I think that Ghost sucks ass, but that’s not the point. I think we are only compared to them because they are popular. Because I really do not see many similarities. Liturgical pseudonyms have been done by other bands too, also long before Ghost. Their music is so soft that it is rather rock than any metal related. And I think their image is much more over the top than ours. Also, lyrically there may be some minor parallels, but I think we have a pretty different approach. Do they have songs about pedophile priests? Then again, I never listen to this band, so what the heck. I do not mind being compared to other bands at all, but I really find that association with Ghost pretty disturbing.

V. As you said, religion, sexuality, perversion and bestiality isn’t a new topic in metal in general. Just take Pungent Stench. So why did you choose doom metal with those beautiful vocals to tell your stories? Was another doom band obvious because of your background in Ophis?

It had nothing to do with Ophis. In fact, I was very hesitant at first to play in another doom band, because I thought “what’s the point? If you invest a lot of work in another band, shouldn’t it be something else”? As I mentioned above, at its very beginning, Fvneral Fvkk was a lot more brutal and less doomy. So when Decanus Obscaenus suddenly turned up with rather epic doom fragments, I in fact considered leaving the band. But the music was too good to turn it down with the sole reason of playing in another doom band already. I really liked it, and I was compelled to work on that stuff. So we did. It turned out that Fvneral Fvkk is different enough for us. As with Ophis, the original intention behind the band was not an explicit wish to play Doom. It just came to be. Seems that the doom genre is haunting me, haha.

VI. One of my favorite quotes by a musician is: “I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things” (Tom Waits). Of corpse you can transfer it to the beauty in the dissonance as well as to bands like The Smiths. But for me this quote fits best on “Lecherous Liturgies”…

I can only agree absolutely.

VII. If I had to compare you - just musical - to any other band, the first two names that come to my mind are Woods Of Ypres for the melancholic atmosphere and 40 Watt Sun for the reduced yet effective presentation of your epic sound. What would you call your influences for Fvneral Fvkk?

40 Watt Sun or rather Warning can be mentioned, for sure. We do not reflect our influences very much, because the more you think about them, the less natural they inspire you. I do not really know what influences Decanus Obscaenus has, who writes the main chunks of the riffs, but other influences that formed the sound of FF are Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus (especially for our singer), Procession, Tristitia and such bands. Oh, and Michael Jackson of course, because no other musician was such a master of pedophilia.

VIII. I know, these things take time. And a doom band works even slower than any other band. But relying on metal archives, you already exist since 2015. Were those three songs all material you have written yet? Or is “Lecherous Liturgies” just an appetizer for the things to come?

You might get the impression that the songs on “Lecherous Liturgies” were written recently, but that is not the case. The EP came out in july 2017, but it was recorded already in february 2016. It is actually pretty old. The record was mixed months later, and it also took a while to find labels to release the different formats at the same time. We got many offers from labels, but everyone wanted to make an album. But we wanted to start with an EP, so it really took that long to get it all together. So actually, these songs were recorded rather soon after the formation of the band, only released much later. We have new songs in progress, but keep in mind that although we really care for FF and work hard on it, Ophis and Fäulnis always have priority. And both bands did new albums in the meantime. So of course, work for FF is slower than usual indeed.

IX. Both “Erection In The House Of God” and “Underneath The Phelonion” are fantastic tracks. But somehow “Fvcking At Fvnerals” has this slightly different approach. It sounds more direct, even more rancid. And then there are guitar feedbacks, drones and even effects on the vocals. Was this one of the earlier songs Fvneral Fvkk has written?

No, the 3 tracks were all written in the same period, pretty much in one work flow. We just tried a different approach here and it came naturally. Maybe it also had to do with Cantor Cinaedicus. We had a different singer in the original line up but fired him during the process. Cinaedicus joined the band during this songwriting period, and he co-wrote this song with Obscaenus. I was involved with the other tracks, but not this one. So this might be one reason why it sounds different. And thanks for your praising the power of our erotic divine gospel!

X. On a 7” single there is not much space. So I understand that you put only two songs on it. But why haven’t you released “Fvcking At Fvnerals” on the tape edition of “Lecherous Liturgies”? And unfortunately the song wasn’t included in the download for my cassette. So it is a digital bonus only?

Business stuff. It happens. That’s the problem when you have to release the same record on 3 different labels. We had to license the material to all different formats separately, and every label had its own conditions and demands. So it ended up like that. I know that might be inconvenient to some. For this we apologize, but it is actually no one’s fault. It is just the way the business works sometimes.

XI. So many Fvnerals… By the way, do you know the band with the same name? It is somehow doom as well. But very different. More like Chelsea Wolfe, but also different, haha! Nevermind, I can recommend them when you like disturbing music with beautiful vocals!

Thou speakest in riddles, young acolyte. I know the norwegian Funeral, if you mean those. But I guess not, as you mentioned Chelsea Wolfe…

XII. You haven’t had any official output yet. But you published a review by Deaf Forever on your facebook page where your “promo ep” was discussed. Had you made this ep to promote your music to zines and labels? Or how did you manage to get your first official release done by three different labels on various formats?

Deaf Forever caught wind of this band, so they asked us if they could write a review of the EP. So we sent them an advance copy and they reviewed it. This “promo EP” is exactly the same EP we released now.
We contacted many labels to see if there was any interest. Solitude Productions wanted to release an album, no EP. So they agreed only to a digital release. But for us it would have been not acceptable to just have a digital release, so we held back the release date until we found Bleeding Heart Nihilist Productions to release the 7”. It was more or less a nice surprise that Lychanthropic Chants offered to do the tape version. Sure it is a bit confusing to have all formats on different labels, but what the heck. We will see where the album will come out.

XIII. On the very first drafts of you logo, it totally fits to an occult atmosphere. But on facebook you use an version with shades, 3d effect and gloss that reminds me more on a traditional speed metal or NWOBHM band. Why didn’t you keep a flattened version of this drawing?

I wish I knew. I did not deal with any of that stuff.

XIV. Scrolling through your facebook page, I find many other posts that made me think. There is this cover picture, on the first sight with an old painting of monks and a coffin where a dead guy resurrects. But as a detail there is a monk fucking a nun in the background. You promoted your ep with another image with a curvy yet sexy nun. You shared some shocking news of cardinals facing sexual assault charges. Or a ambiguous bill for reparations on a church as well as some memes and funny pictures. On the one had you maintain your main concept. But on the other hand you spread real criticism on the church as well as you make fun on religion. Is this trinity of humor, criticism and perversity our way of protest against the church and religion?

Yes, more or less. Fvneral Fvkk has some cynical, sarcastic tone to it, hence the making fun of religion, but we are not a joke band. This is criticism, and we take it serious. It is rather mockery than fun. You may laugh about the pics, but the laughter always feels a little bitter, as soon as you think about the fact, that there is actually so much truth behind the stories in our lyrics. These crooks are all such hypocrite swine. The church has fucked up so many people, caused severe sexual disorders and mental illnesses. Mental clinics are full of people who were raised by Catholics. Telling people that their natural drives are wrong and evil is as bad as claiming that certain races are inferior or something like that. Especially when you tell such things and then go out and rape kids. Sick fucks! But just ranting and pissing all over them as bands like Deicide and many others do, that is not our style. We rather mock them, be cynical about them.

XV. As you use quite explicit images on your facebook page, showing curvy sexy nuns and fucking monks, the artwork for “Lecherous Liturgies” is very well behaved. What was your intention when showing a funeral from above, the grave surrounded by umbrellas?

As you already mentioned, we have a very graphic image and use very drastic visuals here and there. With such antics, a band risks to get recognized for their image rather than the music. Look at GWAR, look at Slipknot, look at Ghost. People discuss these bands mainly because of their antics, but the music is spoken of more rarely. We did not want people to say “ah, they just had a sick artwork to get attention”. Yes, we have in-your-face pictures on Facebook. But we take the music seriously and it is our main focus. Music first, image second. That’s why we neglected any graphic “shock value” from the EP-artwork. We do not need provocation to sell records. The music is good enough to achieve that on its own. The internet-provocation is just because we want to. And we will keep it that way in the future as well.

XVI. Will Fvneral Fvkk every release a full album in near future? I think the topics religion and perversity offers enough material to fill several records… Do you have any plans or even finished songs yet?

We are working on material, and we plan to release a full-length next. Only unstable factor is that “near future” term… we have no idea when it will be finished and released. We are working on it, and we have the will to record the album in 2018 but it is hard to tell.

XVII. As I really enjoyed the contrasting vocals on “Lecherous Liturgies” I have to ask: Will Cantor Cinaedicus sing on the next Ophis album as well? Frankly, I really enjoy heavy and disturbing music interrupted by clean and fragile vocals. Just listen to Departé who did a great job combining black, death, post metal with growls, screams and beautiful clean singing….

I sometimes enjoy such a mixture myself too. But he will not sing on the next Ophis record. I don’t think there will ever be clean vocals on an Ophis album. Besides, he does not want to do it either. He does a mixture of clean voice and growls in another band called Voidhaven, though. But there is no release of that band yet, so we have to wait.

]]>Ulsect - Ulsecthttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/ulsect-ulsect/
Wed, 02 Aug 2017 20:12:34 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/ulsect-ulsect/
This self-titled debut is the very first output for Ulsect. But the cast was already promising. Members of obscure black metal band Dodecahedron and progressive Exivious (like Cynic or maybe Obscura) or the more modern Textures join to create an avant-garde death metal unit. So I can understand why there was no demo or anything else in advance of this label debut.
The result is exactly as you might expect. Dissonant harmonies melt into furious baneful blastbeats combined with rhythm-oriented staccatos.
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This self-titled debut is the very first output for Ulsect. But the cast was already promising. Members of obscure black metal band Dodecahedron and progressive Exivious (like Cynic or maybe Obscura) or the more modern Textures join to create an avant-garde death metal unit. So I can understand why there was no demo or anything else in advance of this label debut.

The result is exactly as you might expect. Dissonant harmonies melt into furious baneful blastbeats combined with rhythm-oriented staccatos. Like the unorthodox approach of Ulcerate meet the progressive thinking of later Gorguts and some more modern kinds of heavy music.

Many moments have this calm attitude. Although the harmonies are dissonant and quirky, the resulting atmosphere remains relaxed. Just to take a sudden burst into furious blastbeats. And take another turn in more playful chinkings, soundscape driven carpets of post-anything-eske dystopia.

But on the other hand there are those baneful passages, forming a bleak and nihilistic atmosphere. Ulsect creates a great tension between those gloomy and discomforting moments towards their relief in either total eruption or dissolution into fragmented decresendos. And between those emotional and atmospheric parts there are strongly calculated rhythm-oriented passages as a well fitting contrast.

Over about 42 Minutes, “Ulsect” is a continuous journey. Often fluent between the songs, sometimes consequently connected by the instrumental interludes “Moirae” and “An Augury”. But always in the right balance between emotional explosion, well thought staccatos and more calm, atmospheric parts. Although many moments are on a very high musical level, dealing with difficult timing, Ulsect never acts intellectualisesed. This record is in a constant flow, coherent yet intelligent at any time.

But if you want to catch Ulsect from their best side, just listen to “The Ending” or “Maunder”, because those are the most impressing compositions on this album.

Fans of Ulcerate, late Gorguts or Departé should definitely listen to this record, since it offers the same atmosphere and instrumentation complemented by a more modern approach with some more rhythm-oriented moments. It is not simply a clone yet another view on the very young genre of post-death metal.

]]>Fvneral Fvkk - Lecherous Liturgieshttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/fvneral-fvkk-lecherous-liturgies/
Mon, 31 Jul 2017 19:18:40 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/fvneral-fvkk-lecherous-liturgies/
Frankly the music of Fvneral Fvkk was quite a surprise to me. Hearing this name I thought more of some rancid death metal in the vein of Graveyard Ghoul, Repuked and so on. Even the cast might have pointed me into a similar assumption: Fvneral Fvkk are all members from Ophis except for drummer Steffen, completed by Niko from Fäulnis. Some guys from a doom/death metal band and a guy from a blackdoompunk band join to have some fun.
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Frankly the music of Fvneral Fvkk was quite a surprise to me. Hearing this name I thought more of some rancid death metal in the vein of Graveyard Ghoul, Repuked and so on. Even the cast might have pointed me into a similar assumption: Fvneral Fvkk are all members from Ophis except for drummer Steffen, completed by Niko from Fäulnis. Some guys from a doom/death metal band and a guy from a blackdoompunk band join to have some fun. But in the end Fvneral Fvkk plays epic doom metal. With heavy music and gentle vocals.

Although “Erection In The House Of God” has some morbid harmonies on the guitars, it rapidly turns into bewitching melancholic riffs. When the vocals set in the beautiful sadness completes. At least in the musical aspect of “Lecherous Liturgies”. The lyrical concept deals with sexual religious themes. That sounds somehow contrary to the fragile and atmospheric music, but fits very well in a cynical way.

“Underneath The Phelonion” continues with heavy instrumentation and lovely melodies for the vocals. There is even a passage where the chants have multiple voices. And in the end the song raises harsher and harsher, ending in a thunderstorm of double bass.

Both tracks showcase an intelligent approach by Fvneral Fvkk. Simple but very catchy riffs meet with haunting harmonies and fantastic vocal-lines. And on the other hand there are those “beautiful melodies telling terrible things” which adds a special yet subtile twist to the music.

“Lecherous Liturgies” is released physically on tape by Lycanthropic Chants and as 7” ep vial Bleeding Heart Nihilist Productions. Both feature the two songs “Erection On The House Of God” and “Underneath The Phelonion”. For people prefering the digital format, there is the bonus track “Fvcking At Fvnerals” with the download on bandcamp. It is not on the same level like the other two songs, more slimy, raw and direct. With its more simplified harmonies and structur it seems like an earlier product of Fvneral Fvkk, playing with some feedback on guitar as well as with effects on the vocals. It is a nice bonus, but the other two numbers are more interesting and make me looking forward to the future releases of the band.

]]>Time Lurker - Time Lurkerhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/time-lurker-time-lurker/
Thu, 27 Jul 2017 19:37:59 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/time-lurker-time-lurker/
Time Lurker is a one-man project from Strasbourg, France. Started in 2014, Mick already released an ep and a single song digitally in 2016. Both available on Bandcamp yet, this self-titled new release is a compilation of those material and a second ep called &ldquo;II&rdquo;, where I cannot find any information about on the internet. So I think the four songs of this ep have their first release on &ldquo;Time Lurker&rdquo;.
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Time Lurker is a one-man project from Strasbourg, France. Started in 2014, Mick already released an ep and a single song digitally in 2016. Both available on Bandcamp yet, this self-titled new release is a compilation of those material and a second ep called “II”, where I cannot find any information about on the internet. So I think the four songs of this ep have their first release on “Time Lurker”.

At first listen, I didn’t know that this record is a compilation of two eps and one song. It is coherent and shows manifold ideas that aim for just one goal: A dense and exciting atmosphere. Time Lurker did fantastic on all his releases and maintains consequent feeling throughout the whole record.

“Rupture” and “Judgement” from the first ep already show the intense and atmospheric ideas Time Lurker orchestrates into its music. Harsh blazing blastbeats meet awesome melodies, flowing through a nice variety of pace. “Ethereal Hands” takes those ingredients and takes them to another level. Slight moments of blackgaze widen the palette of Mick. And the incorporation of more baneful harmonies brings the overall vibe closer to Blut Aus Nord. Dreamy lead guitars and polyphone melodies are extra salt to the soup.

As far as I see, the following tracks are taken from the second ep, where I cannot find any information on the internet about. But “Reborn” to “Whispering From Space” form a consistent unit which hardens my assumption. “Reborn” continues the usage of blackgaze elements and combines them with a spacy soundscape. It is an atmospheric introduction to the following “No Way Out From Mankind” that again serves some parallels to Blut Aus Nord. Melancholic melodies hit into furious blastbeats, running through constant changes throughout the song.

“Passages” is another interlude to the awesome “Whispering From Space”. This last song is even more baneful than any track before, playing with more minimalist and repetitive riffing to create a raw and harsh atmosphere. The slowed down part has some slight dissonant touch, which adds even more doom to the intense vibe. But although the main theme is malignant and discomforting, Time Lurker always keep up their great work on melodies.

At the end, this compilation presents like a complete album. Showing its constant attitude as well as a permanent flow that developes more playful and baneful. If “Whispering From Space” is a hint for the things to come, Time Lurker will become one of the most interesting modern (post-)black metal bands.

German Monoton Studios will make this compilation available on cassette. For those prefering a beautiful digipak-cd or even vinyl, French Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions will release formats. All physical copies will be available on 2nd June 2017. And those who rely on digital stuff, can grab it for a cheap amout directly from the bandcamp page of Time Lurker.

]]>Beltez - Exiled, Punished​.​.​. ​Rejectedhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/beltez-exiled-punished---rejected/
Tue, 04 Jul 2017 09:48:38 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/beltez-exiled-punished---rejected/
Frankly, I didn&rsquo;t have the best start with Beltez. Years ago I got a copy of their first album &ldquo;Beltane&rdquo;. In a crude mixture of misunderstanding of black metal in general on my side and lacking maturity of this release, Beltez became a synonym for the worst of the genre to me. A long time went by (I think more than 9 years) and &ldquo;Tod: Part 1&rdquo; showed that the band had improved a lot.
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Frankly, I didn’t have the best start with Beltez. Years ago I got a copy of their first album “Beltane”. In a crude mixture of misunderstanding of black metal in general on my side and lacking maturity of this release, Beltez became a synonym for the worst of the genre to me. A long time went by (I think more than 9 years) and “Tod: Part 1” showed that the band had improved a lot. Grown as musicians there were still some shortcomings in songwriting, but suddenly there came some potential in sight. Another four years later: Now their new output “Exiled, Punished… Rejected” is both a big surprise to me and the best material Beltez published so far.

The whole songwriting matured and now masters long running times of more than seven minutes a song easily, combining the whole record with a stringent vision. So many tracks continue where the other ended and the last riff of the very last number ties onto the very first opening theme of “Prelude”. “Exiled, Punished… Rejected” is an overall concept that is coherent from the first second.

Within the individual songs, Beltez show their development in an impressiv way as well. Where “Tod: Part 1” took some influences from Post-Punk/Wave, “Exiled, Punished… Rejected” continues the more subtile moments that reminded me of Downfall Of Gaia on the previous record. Nowadays there are more passages that show a movement towards post-black metal. More atmospheric moments, more soundscapes and shoegaze-like guitars. Often under heavy influence of effects, ranging from sounds eroded by the wind to more abstract interludes before the furious blasting grimness continues.

That’s a very important aspect on this album: Although there are tendencies for Beltez to transcend from traditional black metal, there are still many references to the roots of the genre. Haunting melodies, cold and majestic attitude, bleak atmosphere and desperate cries, from grinding slow pace to blazing high speed eruptions. All interwoven with those more playful elements already mentioned. Reduced to the minimum in one moment, intelligent arranged in the other.

In this exciting and manifold mixture, “Exiled, Punished… Rejected” is a fascinating album. All of the 46 minutes catch the listener and take him through an integral journey through the variable songs. All played on a very high level without any deficit. To prove the quality of this release by yourself, just listen to either “Adamantinarx” or “Repent And Restless”. But the other tracks aren’t any inferior.
With this extremely strong record, I’m already looking forward to the next release of the band. When Beltez continues to develop this way, the next record will be a masterpiece.

]]>Ius Talionis - Saligiahttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/ius-talionis-saligia/
Wed, 28 Jun 2017 22:04:14 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/ius-talionis-saligia/
Ius Talionis. Roughly translated it means &ldquo;eye for an eye&rdquo;. And it is the name of a relatively young black metal band from Aachen, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. After a demo called &ldquo;Eleutheromania&rdquo;, &ldquo;Saligia&rdquo; is their first full length. Its name is an old acronym for the main vices. And this album fits in this ancient meaning, dealing with those vices as an concept. Each Song is dedicated to acedia, disdainfulness, meanness, lust, wrath gluttony or envy.
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Ius Talionis. Roughly translated it means “eye for an eye”. And it is the name of a relatively young black metal band from Aachen, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. After a demo called “Eleutheromania”, “Saligia” is their first full length. Its name is an old acronym for the main vices. And this album fits in this ancient meaning, dealing with those vices as an concept. Each Song is dedicated to acedia, disdainfulness, meanness, lust, wrath gluttony or envy.

While dealing with this topics, Ius Talionis use different approaches, combining many facets of black metal into their sound. Over the total running time of almost a quarter to an hour Ius Talionis form a diversified album. But on the other hand they show of some child illnesses as well.

Frankly, some songs might have been shortened. Like “Tanz Um Das Goldene Kalb” or the epic “Herzstillstand”. And the lead guitar / solo from “Tanz Um Das Goldene Kalb” is very primitive. It does not fit into many other ideas and leads that happen on “Saligia”. It seems that this track was one of the more older ones of the band.
In contrast, just the following track, “Babylon”, shows some nice lead guitars that fit way better into the overall sound of the band. Or just listen to those harmonies at the end of “Gärten Des Dionysos” or “Elohim, El-Qanna”. Especially the later one are close to the atmospheric density of post black metal and show the immense potential of the band!

At this stage, Ius Talionis blend several styles of black metal into their sound. From more prototypical ideas in “Auge um Auge” over some punky riffs and moments in “Tanz Um Das Goldene Kalb” to more atmospheric elements in “Babylon” or “Gärten Des Dionysos”. Mixing in nice melodies in “Früchte Des Zorns” or “Elohim, El-Qanna”, combining grim and aggressive passages in “Früchte Des Zorns” with more bleak and cold moments in the same track or “Gärten Des Dionysos” or “Babylon”.

All this influences make “Saligia” a diversified album. But on the other hand it is still lacking some red chord, binding everything together to a stringent trademark sound. This might sound more devastating than this review is intended. There is a lot potential in this band. Many ideas are show that Ius Talionis look beyond their noses, incorporating many elements that will make them outstanding. Just listen to “Herzstillstand”, when there is really interesting drumming and even a passage with some piano. Or the more exciting moments at the ends of “Elohim, El-Qanna” or “Gärten Des Dionysos”. Those ideas show the way that Ius Talionis might wander. And this direction is awesome!

So have an eye on this young band. “Saligia” might has some draw-backs. Some songs are still in search of a trademark sound. But others show a greater vision. And in future they will have some great output, I promise.

]]>Ungfell - Tôtbringærehttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/ungfell-totbringaere/
Sun, 23 Apr 2017 21:35:37 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/ungfell-totbringaere/
After a demo and a split with Dakhma, this is the very first album by Swiss Ungfell. At first listen I was somehow deterred by the thin and low-fi recording. But don&rsquo;t judge this record by its sound! Musically &ldquo;Tôtbringære&rdquo; offers some fine black metal with medieval / folk influences and a very own touch. Frankly, it makes me somehow nostalgic and reminds me of some releases by deceased Last Episode Records.
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After a demo and a split with Dakhma, this is the very first album by Swiss Ungfell. At first listen I was somehow deterred by the thin and low-fi recording. But don’t judge this record by its sound! Musically “Tôtbringære” offers some fine black metal with medieval / folk influences and a very own touch. Frankly, it makes me somehow nostalgic and reminds me of some releases by deceased Last Episode Records. But I won’t go into comparisons. Ungfell speak for themselves.

Where the production spares many details and power, the music on “Tôtbringære” fixes all deficits. Those guitars are simply outstanding. Each song offers very catching melodies, often even polyphon played. And next to the typical, old school black metal, there are many surprising twists. Like “Gottes Acker” or “Wechselbalg” that suddenly interweave some obscure and spooky boogy woogy. Or “Trommler Tod” that incorporates even a psychobilly-eske solo.

And as mentioned before, there are many influences from folk and medieval music on “Tôtbringære” as well. Starting with the prototype medieval introduction “Viures Brunst”, most songs have some special ingredients that are used goal-oriented. Ungfell does not use those elements to end in itself. Starting with the haunting pipes in “Die Bleiche Göttin” to the more subtile accordions in “Gottes Acker” or “Der Opfersprung” to the sudden turn into a fully medieval part at the ending of “Trommler Tod”.
This is one of the seldom moments where even some clean vocals find their way into the music. There is another short passage in “Gottes Acker” as well. But same as for the medieval / folk elements: Ungfell uses all those special elements wisely as a skillful ingredient to a song.

This combination of grimm and raw black metal with a lot of playful elements makes “Tôtbringære” an outstanding debut. Every song has awesome melodies and exciting turns. Nevermind if a track starts more rocking like “Trommler Tod”, stomping in mid-tempo as “Gottes Acker” or furious blazing. There are many surprising turns into a totally other direction, still maintaining the coherent flow of each number.

In the end, I cannot say which of these six songs (introduction and interlude “Slahtære” exkluded) is my favourite. Maybe the obscure and baneful “Wechselbalg”. But on each play of this record I have another track that catches me and has its outstanding moments.

]]>Viscera/// - 3: Release Yourself Through Desperate Ritualshttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/viscera-3-release-yourself-through-desperate-rituals/
Wed, 12 Apr 2017 22:40:34 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/viscera-3-release-yourself-through-desperate-rituals/
Viscera/// is an odd and unique band. First time I got in touch with them, was their outstanding album &ldquo;2: As Zeitgeist Becomes Profusion of the I&rdquo;. I was totally blown away from this intense mixture of hardcore with post-metal elements. Unfortunately Viscera/// went out of my sight and I missed the following releases. But after a few splits and collaborations there finally is a new album and it brings Viscera/// to another level.
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Viscera/// is an odd and unique band. First time I got in touch with them, was their outstanding album “2: As Zeitgeist Becomes Profusion of the I”. I was totally blown away from this intense mixture of hardcore with post-metal elements. Unfortunately Viscera/// went out of my sight and I missed the following releases. But after a few splits and collaborations there finally is a new album and it brings Viscera/// to another level. I am really impressed!

“3 | Release Yourself Through Desperate Rituals” baffles all description. It is (post-) hardcore, it is black metal, it is (neo-) crust, it has moments of grindcore, shoegaze, post-rock and prog. There are many, partially contrary elements mixed into one single, coherent flow. And this forms this album to one large artistic piece of dark music. All songs interweave with its follow up and form one big picture.

But on the other side, each track stands on its own, using unique ingredients to create its very own, outstanding profile. So it is no wonder that “Titan” is more a collage, combining dense atmosphere with more abstract ideas, buzzing noises and samples alltogether with black metal. And this short but different interlude fits into the overall context as well as the more crust-driven “Martyrdom For The Finest” or the more progressive “In The Cut” that combines post-rock with post-black metal. For Viscera/// all is one. And this creates a brilliant album.

As said, “Titan” is more a soundscape. And “Anxiety Prevails” (which is only a “web edit” on my digital promo copy, running over eight minutes) seams to be more straight forward, playing with some unorthodox black metal riffs to create its dark atmosphere. Of course there are some nice breaks into a punky bass and drum interlude, there is an epic post-black metal part with great shoegaze harmonies. But in contrast to “In the Cut” it is the most direct track on “Release Yourself Through Desperate Rituals”.

And even with most progression in “In The Cut”, it is “Martyrdom For The Finest” which offers the most extreme versatility of styles. In the beginning it offers fast d-beat between Tragedy and early Fall Of Efrafa, creating a really bleak atmosphere. But after another turn, it becomes more slowed down and reminds me of later Fall Of Efrafa. And then the clean vocals set in and takes the song to a totally other level.

This clean vocals continue throughout the whole record. And they are a beautiful addition to the furious and dark music. In one moment they add a bleak and distant vibe taken from post-punk into the songs. And in the other they widen the musical and emotional range of “Release Yourself Through Desperate Rituals”, creating remarkable hooks and moments within the assumed volatile music.

But Viscera/// are not really volatile. They seize the best elements from a wide range of styles and combine them into a harmonious blend. Although it might seem otherwise, every sudden turn, each break is well calculated. But still surprises the listener, makes the songs vital and outstanding. And “Release Yourself Through Desperate Rituals” to a great and unique album in the end.

This is angry and hopeless music for the open-minded! Highly recommended.

]]>Buioingola - Il Nuovo Marehttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/buioingola-il-nuovo-mare/
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 20:21:17 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/buioingola-il-nuovo-mare/
&ldquo;Il Nuovo Mare&rdquo; has a dark and abstract artwork. It totally fits to the music presented by Buioingola and gives a slight indication towards the bizarre style of this record. Although the main theme is (post-)black metal, this album offers an unique blend that goes far beyond.
To be honest, it is hard to describe the style of Buioingola. As said, the foundation is black metal. Sometimes more traditional, but most of the time in the more contemporary style between post-black metal and blackgaze.
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“Il Nuovo Mare” has a dark and abstract artwork. It totally fits to the music presented by Buioingola and gives a slight indication towards the bizarre style of this record. Although the main theme is (post-)black metal, this album offers an unique blend that goes far beyond.

To be honest, it is hard to describe the style of Buioingola. As said, the foundation is black metal. Sometimes more traditional, but most of the time in the more contemporary style between post-black metal and blackgaze. Best examples for this direction are “Eclisse” or “Il Gionro Dopo”. But in the very next moment there are influences from hardcore as well, blending the music into a similar style to German Planks. Especially the more shouted vocal style has strong parallels. And even the next ingredient on “Il Nuovo Mare” can be found in the later work of Planks: Post-Punk and Wave.

This influence has almost the same range as the black metal parts. In “Silenzio” it starts more with post-punk, developing into some post-rock soundscapes. And on the other hand “Latenza” takes the wave-parts to such an obscure level that it sounds like a dirty batcave-black metal bastard. This eerie boogie woogie has some nice Negative Plane spirit.

But those are not all elements Buioingola combines for their unique and disturbing sound. In “Irriconoscible” they introduce spoken words and keyboards, flowing into some dark and baneful collage-eske soundscapes. This is not the only moment where dark electronic ambient is mixed homogeneously into a song. “Attesca” continues this abstract way, sounds almost like industrial meeting post-black metal. “Silenzio” continues this bizarre combination, crushing into the already mentioned batcave and post-rock elements.

With all those versatile musical influences *Buioingola* draws a manifold dark atmosphere. From harsh, blasting metal to the more abstract and baneful moments of ambient and industrial. “Latenza” offers even some grooving dance-able moments. Just to take a turn into a more bleak and melancholic “Eclisse”. And “Il Giorno Dopo” sounds like the soundtrack to “Twin Peaks” gone bleak and disturbingly dark.

This mixture of styles and shades of gloomy atmosphere makes “Il Nuovo Mare” a discomforting and baneful album. But also an unique and adorable release.

]]>Fäulnis - Antikulthttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/faulnis-antikult/
Mon, 27 Mar 2017 20:50:31 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/faulnis-antikult/
Many black metal bands use the term &ldquo;kvlt&rdquo;. The want to form an elitist and occult image, try to connect to those &ldquo;glorious days&rdquo; of the genre. But Fäulnis is not any black metal band. So it is quite logic that they state an antithesis with their third record &ldquo;Antikult&rdquo;. But still maintain their roots in the bleakest moments of this genre, mixing in slight elements of punk and doom.
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Many black metal bands use the term “kvlt”. The want to form an elitist and occult image, try to connect to those “glorious days” of the genre. But Fäulnis is not any black metal band. So it is quite logic that they state an antithesis with their third record “Antikult”. But still maintain their roots in the bleakest moments of this genre, mixing in slight elements of punk and doom.

At first listen, “Antikult” is a consequent continuation of “Snuff || Hiroshima”. Less droning soundscapes than the debut “Gehirn zwischen Wahn und Sinn” offered, more straight and direct songs. Nevertheless it is another step for Fäulnis. Each track offers raw and desperate music in high quality.

Combining great morbid harmonies and blastbeats with the fatalist attitude from doom and aggressive moments of punk-rock, this record creates a baneful cocktail. The opening song “Metropolis” is a straight forward rock’n roll track. Groovy punk-rock, black metal harmonies and rocking leads during the refrain form a catchy hit single. It goes straight to the ear and sticks there. Although it is a great start into “Antikult”, it is not very representative for this album.

Fäulnis take their time and slow down for the following few songs. But this reduced pace perfectly fits the mood of “Antikult”. Especially “Im Auge Des Sturms” lives from this bleak and depressing atmosphere. And “Der König” takes this attitude to another level, mixing somehow hopeful harmonies and contrary desperate vocals into this melancholic song.
With same ingredients “Arroganz Von Unten” is a great example of how Fäulnis mix punk with black metal, resulting in awesome blastbeats and harmonies.

This marks a turning point in the attitude of “Antikult”. Starting with “Arroganz Von Unten” the tempo gets faster. “MS Fäulnis” mixes baneful fast beats with punk-styled vocals (which somehow remind me of the darker and more metallic moments of Dritte Wahl on “Strahlen”), rocking d-beats and a really catchy refrain.
In same fast pace “Kadaver” is the most straight forward track, consisting of black metal only. But it seems that this is just a bridge to “Galgen, Kein Humor” (great title by the way), which shows a very majestic attitude. Adding some morbid harmonies and even keyboards it is the most versatile song on this album. But nevertheless it is reduced to the max, using all instruments to create an awesome ending for “Antikult”.

Following the really good “Snuff || Hiroshima”, Fäulnis created a great mixture of doom, punk and black metal. “Antikult” is a bleak and honest album. And every track has its very own charm, ranging from desperate and blazing to melancholic and hopeless.

This album had a lot of spins in my stereo already - an will have even more in future. Recommendation to everyone who despises genre borders and seeks for discomforting music with great impact!

]]>Woe - Hope Attritionhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/woe-hope-attrition/
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 23:03:09 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/woe-hope-attrition/
A heavy polluted sky and industrial chimneys mark the nihilistic artwork. The title of this album is not less pessimistic. &ldquo;Hope Attrition&rdquo;. WOE create a dark and hopeless imagery for their forth full-length. Although this attitude continues on wide parts of their music, it does not picture the whole range of this album.
At the first listen &ldquo;Hope Attrition&rdquo; is a relatively straight and aggressive release. Grimm and frostbitten guitars create a cold atmosphere.
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A heavy polluted sky and industrial chimneys mark the nihilistic artwork. The title of this album is not less pessimistic. “Hope Attrition”. WOE create a dark and hopeless imagery for their forth full-length. Although this attitude continues on wide parts of their music, it does not picture the whole range of this album.

At the first listen “Hope Attrition” is a relatively straight and aggressive release. Grimm and frostbitten guitars create a cold atmosphere. Harsh blastbeats support the direct and more brutal moments of this record. Combined with the nasty screams it surely is a nihilistic USBM release. Especially the opening track “Unending Call Of Woe” transports this raw message.

But WOE have both a great sense for harmonies and arrangements. Those elements set in in “No Blood Has Honor” latest and show the more playful and manifold side of the band. Morbid melodies exchange with pushing blastbeats and grimm atmosphere. “The Din Of The Mourning” takes this ingredients to another level, showcasing the excellent song-writing abilities of WOE in a fantastic track. The development of this number is fluent and coherent, mixing in even some slight moments of punk beats and clean vocals. Its variety is simply outstanding.

And of course “The Ones We Lost” or “Drown Us With Greatness” are just slightly inferior. The earlier surprises again with great harmonies, this time on the bass as well, and an awesome flow from harsh to cold to majestic and epic. The later mixes some morbid melodies with little moments of hope. It is a nice contrast to the dark and dystopic imagery of the artwork and album title but fits perfectly in the overall picture of “Hope Attrition”. Same for the instrumental interlude “A Distant Epitaph” which calm chinking prepares the blazing start of “The Din Of The Mourning”.

For me, “Unending Call Of Woe” made the access into “Hope Attrition” a little bit hard. It is not a bad song. But the other ones caught me from the first second. The combination of furious and harsh aggression with cold atmosphere, morbid harmonies and awesome song-structures is outstanding. It fulfills the expectations fuelled by the dark artwork and exceeds them at ease. A really strong (US) black metal album.

]]>Dool - Here Now, There Thenhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/dool-here-now-there-then/
Wed, 15 Mar 2017 10:31:34 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/dool-here-now-there-then/
Joined forces from Ellen Bandita, Gold or The Devil&rsquo;s Blood created DOOL. With their fist album &ldquo;Here Now, There Then&rdquo; they present a well blended mixture of dark rocking music. Combining influences of Batcave and Gothic Rock with psychedelic Rock of the 70s and this gloomy occult vibe, DOOL make an impressive debut.
&ldquo;Here Now, There Then&rdquo; uses bitter sweet melodies to tell its dark story. Mainly carried by vocalist Ryanne van Dorst many hooklines bewitch the audience and stick to the ear.
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Joined forces from Ellen Bandita, Gold or The Devil’s Blood created DOOL. With their fist album “Here Now, There Then” they present a well blended mixture of dark rocking music. Combining influences of Batcave and Gothic Rock with psychedelic Rock of the 70s and this gloomy occult vibe, DOOL make an impressive debut.

“Here Now, There Then” uses bitter sweet melodies to tell its dark story. Mainly carried by vocalist Ryanne van Dorst many hooklines bewitch the audience and stick to the ear. Sometimes the guitars join her, playing nice and playful melodies as well. Just to take a sudden turn to the other side, serving gloomy harmonies or even baneful riffs.

All combined by consistent and flowing structures, the songs develop naturally and exciting. Sometimes the musical themes are subtile varied, known passages varnished with new elements. And in the right moment, everything is reduced to the minimum.

As a result “Here Now, There Then” is a diversified record. Starting heavy and occult with the 10 minute long epic “Vanta Black”, just to get more catchy, almost cheesy with the following “Golden Serpents”. On the next turn, “Words On Paper” gets darker, dirtier, “In Her Darkes Hour” even baneful. “The Death Of Love” takes a turn into another direction and shows the more fragile side of DOOL. Thin vocals and dreamy instrumentation flow coherent into more powerful passages and end in a heavy interwoven carpet of polyphone harmonies.

Somewhere between the dry and direct darkness of The Sisters Of Mercy, the more playful progression of Blue Oyster Cult and the occult vibe by The Devils Blood, DOOL create a consistent atmosphere. Always gloomy, but with moments of all hope, joy, dreams, melancholia and majestic power.

]]>Lantern - II: Morphosishttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/lantern-ii-morphosis/
Mon, 13 Mar 2017 23:20:11 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/lantern-ii-morphosis/
LANTERN are back with their second album &ldquo;II: Morphosis&rdquo;. And they keep delivering an unique and obscure blend of all kinds of extreme metal. Just to push their eloquent style to another level.
The foundation is still based on early Morbid Angel. Many riffs are in the abstract style of &ldquo;Blessed Are The Sick&rdquo; or &ldquo;Domination&rdquo;, ranging from slimy and crawling to obscure and vile. Mixing in some thrashing uptempo beats and riding grooves as well as black metal harmonies and atmosphere LANTERN developed their very own sound.
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LANTERN are back with their second album “II: Morphosis”. And they keep delivering an unique and obscure blend of all kinds of extreme metal. Just to push their eloquent style to another level.

The foundation is still based on early Morbid Angel. Many riffs are in the abstract style of “Blessed Are The Sick” or “Domination”, ranging from slimy and crawling to obscure and vile. Mixing in some thrashing uptempo beats and riding grooves as well as black metal harmonies and atmosphere LANTERN developed their very own sound. There are even some moments that are close to the chaos and the furious eruptive element of grindcore which is additional fuel to the fire “Morphosis” is burning. And to be honest, the vocal style reminds me a little bit of Australian Alchemist which adds some more tasty flavour for me.

The result is forty minutes of awesome death metal. Evil, surprising and simply outstanding. As each song takes its own development, varying the individual themes, taking exciting turns to another part, tempo or rhythmical pattern, the whole album in complete has a constant flow of intelligent variation.

“Virgin Damnation” is a slow and slimy track, playing with elements of doomed death metal. Just to make some Slayer quotations in the very next “Lucid Endlessness” which serves some nice polyphone guitar solo as well.
“Transmigration” exchanges thrashy uptempo with grinding blastbeats and an exquisite riff that sticks to the ear. This number is just both harsh and intelligent. Same for “Sleeper Of Hypnagog” or “Cleansing Of The Air” which both manage to stick to the ear. Amazing tracks with versatile structures and quality song writing.

Even the instrumental interlude “Necrotic Epiphanies” is a piece of cake. Raw and almost hectic death metal meets fantastic atmosphere and great harmonies. This might be the best instrumental I have heard in a long time.

“Morphosis” is neither a pure clone of Morbid Angel nor simply “old school” death metal. It is a refreshing blend of all interesting aspects of extreme metal. Outstanding riffing, intelligent drumming, exciting song-structures and an evil attitude mixed together into a great album.

]]>Venenum - Trance Of Deathhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/venenum-trance-death/
Mon, 13 Mar 2017 12:32:01 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/venenum-trance-death/
With their first sign of life VENENUM had quite some impact within the underground. Their self-titled EP were furious 30 minutes of raw death metal combined with eerie melodies and sinister atmosphere taken from black metal. All mixed playfully into a exciting blend, VENENUM displayed a lot of interesting potential. But it should last six years for another release. So &ldquo;Trance Of Death&rdquo; is a critically acclaimed album for this year for sure.
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With their first sign of life VENENUM had quite some impact within the underground. Their self-titled EP were furious 30 minutes of raw death metal combined with eerie melodies and sinister atmosphere taken from black metal. All mixed playfully into a exciting blend, VENENUM displayed a lot of interesting potential. But it should last six years for another release. So “Trance Of Death” is a critically acclaimed album for this year for sure.

Six years are a long period. Especially in this fast times, where many bands want attention and some bands release a new record every two years. But on the other hand: good things need some time to develop. Was “Trance Of Death” worth the waiting? I would say both yes and no.

On the one side VENENUM made a consequent continuation of their already known ingredients. There still are furious eruptions into blasting chaos, some riffs are freaking fast and almost chaotic. There still ist this eerie atmosphere in haunting harmonies. And VENENUM still plays with all their elements, interweaving exzessive solos with harsh blazing parts and some playful variations of the musical themes.

Yet “Trance Of Death” takes their music to another level. Obviously the musicians became fitter on their instruments which allows more tricky parts within the songs. But although there are some challenging variations in speed and rhythmical patterns, VENENUM always use those technical moments to enrich a song and not to end in itself.

I think this progression is best shown in the epic instrumental “Metanoia Journey”. Starting calm it has a steady flow that gets harsher and calmer again, playing with 70s progressive and psychedelic harmonies. It is a showcase for the more evolved melodies VENENUM uses throughout “Trance Of Death”, just compressed into one song.

But on the other hand this is an indicator why this album came a little too late. Although VENENUM had this nice understanding of eerie and haunting harmonies six years ago, there where other bands that evolved into this psychedelic and progressive style at the same time. Bands like Tribulation, Vampire or Morbus Chron took a similar approach but had various output within the last six years.

So there are many moments where VENENUM trigger those reminiscences in me: “This melody sounds a little bit like Vampire”. Or: “This structure is similar to Tribulation on ‘The Formulas Of Death’”. But frankly, those comparisons are not the worst. VENENUM still play their own style between hectic death metal, eerie melodies and blackened atmosphere.

Leaving out all comparisons, “Trance Of Death” contains some great tunes. “The Nature Of The Ground” is catchy song which sticks to the ear. And the “Trance Of Death”-trilogy stands for itself, showing the wide pallet of VENENUM, running from raw blastbeats to beautiful harmonies to psychedelic moments. This three songs would have made an awesome EP for themselves.

In the end, I could understand if someone might be a little bit disappointed by “Trance Of Death”. VENENUM missed the opportunity to surprise with their versatile style as other bands had similar approaches before. But that does not make this debut a bad album. Contrariwise “Trance Of Death” is a really good and intense album with many details to discover. Even after a few spins there are many elements that you might have missed the times before.

]]>Vaiya - Remnant Lighthttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/vaiya-remnant-light/
Sun, 12 Mar 2017 20:32:48 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/vaiya-remnant-light/
Originally released in 2014, &ldquo;Remnant Light&rdquo; gets a new incarnation this year via Nordvis. This is great, because otherwise I had missed this awesome album. And I&rsquo;m pretty sure many other people might have missed it as well.
But it would be a pity if &ldquo;Remnant Light&rdquo; wouldn&rsquo;t get more attention. It is a harsh yet beautiful journey, packed with a variety of emotions and tasty musical ingredients. VAIYA serves just three songs, running 13 minutes each, to form this debut.
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Originally released in 2014, “Remnant Light” gets a new incarnation this year via Nordvis. This is great, because otherwise I had missed this awesome album. And I’m pretty sure many other people might have missed it as well.

But it would be a pity if “Remnant Light” wouldn’t get more attention. It is a harsh yet beautiful journey, packed with a variety of emotions and tasty musical ingredients. VAIYA serves just three songs, running 13 minutes each, to form this debut. The result is almost 40 minutes of great atmospheric black metal telling an intense emotional story.

Most of the time VAIYA plays with cold riffs, harsh blastbeats and a repetitive momentum. By adding some atmospheric harmonies, Rob Allen, the one and only member of the band, creates some similarities to Cascadian-styled black metal.

Being more than a copy of Wolves In The Throne Room or Felt Voices, Allen adds some very own flavour to his songs. There are many breaks into calmer, dreamy moments, mixing some playful yet melancholic melodies with cleaner vocals into the songs.

Playing with harsh and cold black metal, calm moments and atmospheric melodies, “Remnant Light” keeps developing over its overall playing time. “Confrontation” is the most straight forward song, still involving a dynamic between furious blastbeats and calm moments.

“Banishment” gets a step further, interweaving drony soundscapes into the calmer parts and adding some shoegazing harmonies (or are those keyboards yet?) into the song. Supplemented by awesome clean vocals this track climaxes into a fantastic ending.

But “Transformation” is the most impressive song on “Remnant Light”. In the cold and minimalist beginning majestic harmonies create a beautiful contrast between the harsh blasting thunderstorm and the intense atmosphere. During the following uptempo passage with rolling doublebass some keyboards add another component to form an intense and electrifying final for this album.

The combination of calmer moments and harsh, cold black metal and the consistent development during both each individual track and the whole album create an exciting record with an intense atmosphere. The re-release by Nordvis offers the great opportunity to get hold of this fantastic music. Physical available on both CD and LP in April, “Remnant Light” is already available for streaming and download on the bandcamp profile of VAIYA.

]]>Gevurah - Hallelujah!https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/gevurah-hallelujah/
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 21:41:42 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/gevurah-hallelujah/
GEVURAH is part of the Kabbalah, an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought that originated in Judaism. GEVURAH means &ldquo;power&rdquo; and &ldquo;energy&rdquo;. Both attributes that describe &ldquo;Hallelujah!&rdquo; very well. It is an extreme and intense album. Full of (dark) energy and ritualistic moments. It is furious thunder and vile majesty. It is the fine art of destruction, manifested somewhere between black and death metal.
Sure, there are some obvious moments that remember more traditional black metal bands.
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GEVURAH is part of the Kabbalah, an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought that originated in Judaism. GEVURAH means “power” and “energy”. Both attributes that describe “Hallelujah!” very well. It is an extreme and intense album. Full of (dark) energy and ritualistic moments. It is furious thunder and vile majesty. It is the fine art of destruction, manifested somewhere between black and death metal.

Sure, there are some obvious moments that remember more traditional black metal bands. But there are more similarities to the French unorthodox extremists Deathspell Omega and Aosoth. And I think the mindset on “Hallelujah!” is very close on the forward thinking attitude of Ulcerate and the nightmarish soundscape of Portal. Not really in the instrumentation but definitively in the orchestration that forms this delicious album.

Most of “Hallelujah!” is pure destruction. Some monotonous, repetitive riffs, fast blastbeats, extremely vile and baneful atmosphere. There are just little slowed down moments in majestic power to take a short breath. Yeath, there is also a Dark Funeral like melody in “Un Feu Indomtable” and almost some slight element of hope in the interlude “Lifting The Veils Of Da’at”. But most of the time GEVURAH are just annihilating everything that gets into their way. In a very dark and sinister way.

Although “Hallelujah!” executes its baneful mission in an excellent way and serves only great songs, the most outstanding number is the titletrack which name was translated into Hebrew. It is almost 20 Minutes of only the fine parts of this album. Massive and gloomy atmosphere, nightmarish blastbeat thunder, doom-ridden and with vile power. Interrupted by a Gregorian choir, the song continues with the best and catchiest riff on this album just to intensify the already dense atmosphere. This single song is worth the purchase of this album only!

Combining some traditional elements of black metal with some death metal and modern, unorthodox ideas, GEVURAH might be comparable to bands like Deathspell Omega, Aosoth or Ulcerate. But this would not fit the overall picture “Hallelujah!” formed. There are so many further aspects in melodies, pace and attitude, that makes this release outstanding. It is a nasty nightmare that just caught me from the very first second and made me spin this record again and again. Definitively a highlight of black metal that appeared in 2016. Highly recommended!

]]>King Woman - Created In The Image Of Sufferinghttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/king-woman-created-image-suffering/
Sat, 25 Feb 2017 19:57:00 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/king-woman-created-image-suffering/
On this incredible first album, KING WOMAN pulls the listener into a hypnotic and intense journey. Calm, fragile moments bewitch the audience in one moment, just to embrace him with massive walls of drone in the other. Crushing drums meet the sweet vocals by Kristina Esfandiari, harsh doomy riffs get combined with more playful elements of shoegaze and post-rock. Many influences build &ldquo;Created In The Image Of Suffering&rdquo;, making it a versatile and exciting album.
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On this incredible first album, KING WOMAN pulls the listener into a hypnotic and intense journey. Calm, fragile moments bewitch the audience in one moment, just to embrace him with massive walls of drone in the other. Crushing drums meet the sweet vocals by Kristina Esfandiari, harsh doomy riffs get combined with more playful elements of shoegaze and post-rock. Many influences build “Created In The Image Of Suffering”, making it a versatile and exciting album.

Frankly, I cannot understand the usage of the “digital bonus track” “Citos” that kicks of the album. It does not add anything to the overall image of “Created In The Image Of Suffering” and the beginning of the first regular track “Utopia” is a way better introduction into the doom-driven sound of KING WOMAN. From this very first moment nightmarish yet hypnotic amtosphere catches the listener and shows him the baneful beauty of this album. Track by track this intense vibe continues and forms a very special feeling. As said, hypnotic, dreaming, melancholic, sad - but still powerful and massive.

Most impact on this impressive atmosphere has the artistic singing by Kristina Esfandiari. In many situations her vocals are doubled which adds some special flavour to the overall sound. It makes those beautiful harmonies even more hypnotic and ritualistic. In rare moments on “Hierophant” she gets some male backup support, that adds another element to the interesting and versatile sound. Same for the chello at the end of “Manna” which is a surprising turn within the song.

Although the foundation of “Created In The Image Of Suffering” is reduced and minimalistic doom-rock, KING WOMAN manage to interweave exciting details that makes this debut an outstanding and intense piece of heavy and atmospheric music. Just a great and innovative interpretation of baneful yet beautiful music.

]]>Esben And The Witch - Older Terrorshttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/esben-witch-older-terrors/
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 22:27:11 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/esben-witch-older-terrors/
Although ESBEN AND THE WITCH already got some attention as well in the underground as in more popular media, &ldquo;Older Terrors&rdquo; is my first real contact to this band. At first, I didn&rsquo;t know what to think about this record. But after a few spins I grew fond of it. Because it is different. It is beautiful and doomed. It is reduced and widely open. It plays with contrasts. And it doesn&rsquo;t fit any existing genre.
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Although ESBEN AND THE WITCH already got some attention as well in the underground as in more popular media, “Older Terrors” is my first real contact to this band. At first, I didn’t know what to think about this record. But after a few spins I grew fond of it. Because it is different. It is beautiful and doomed. It is reduced and widely open. It plays with contrasts. And it doesn’t fit any existing genre. ESBEN AND THE WITCH act similar to Fvnerals, Chelsea Wolfe or Sinistro, taking influences from different styles and blend them into an unique own sound.

So you will find wide, frisky and almost hopeful moments from post-rock as well as fuzzy walls of sound taken from doom or drone mixed together with reduced parts of (doom-) folk. Some turns happen suddenly within the songs, other developments are fluent. The only fixed component is the beautiful voice of singer/bass player Rachel Davies (which some might know for her contribution on the last album by Ultha ). Frankly, her singing is just adorable. And it adds extra spice to the already interesting songs.

Best song of “Older Terrors” is “Marking The Heart Of A Serpent” which is a perfect showcase for all aspects that define this album. In the beginning, the track is very reduced and gloomy. The great vocal line and acoustic minimalism create an intense atmosphere. Sudden turns into more droning sound surprise the audience, interchange with more calm moments. But then the song becomes more psychedelic, gains tempo. A fantastic variety of stylistic elements that form an outstanding track.

But the other songs are not any inferior. “The Reverist” lives from extensive soundscapes and the opening “Sylvan” is as versatile as “Marking The Heart Of A Serpent”. Phenomenal harmonies and twists form a intense epic. “The Wolf’s Sun” shows again the more baneful side of ESBEN AND THE WITCH, playing with beautiful melodies and disturbing drones. A minimalist yet expressive masterpiece.

In the end it is totally irrelevant how you call “Older Terrors”. Although it has several influences, it is an intense and intelligent piece of art. Fragile, hopeful, massive and baneful. Reduced yet playful. Calm but with a lot of energy and psychedelic potential. It might be unconventional. But that does not lower the quality ESBEN AND THE WITCH delivers.

]]>Antlers - A Gaze Into The Abysshttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/antlers-gaze-abyss/
Tue, 14 Feb 2017 23:03:59 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/antlers-gaze-abyss/
Although this masterpiece was release almost two years ago I listened to it so many times that I had an immense urge to write something about it. Triggered by the recent European CD release by Vendetta records - who already made a couple of vinyl pressings of this album - I put it back to my playlist and still feel its immense intensity with catching melodies and incredible atmosphere. ANTLERS just made an impressive debut with &ldquo;A Gaze Into The Abyss&rdquo;!
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Although this masterpiece was release almost two years ago I listened to it so many times that I had an immense urge to write something about it. Triggered by the recent European CD release by Vendetta records - who already made a couple of vinyl pressings of this album - I put it back to my playlist and still feel its immense intensity with catching melodies and incredible atmosphere. ANTLERS just made an impressive debut with “A Gaze Into The Abyss”!

Although ANTLERS are active only since 2013 and this was their first output in 2015, this record exhales massive elements of black metal played in the mid 90s. Some epic parts remind me of the phenomenal orchestration by Dissection while other grimm and melancholic parts contain some early Siebenbürgen. But “A Gaze Into The Abyss” is not a pure rip-off at any second. They just take the best elements of the genre and combine them to an outstanding black metal album. Doesn’t matter if you call it “atmospheric” or just “black metal”.

The balance between blazing fast thunderstorms and slowed down moments creates a variable overall picture. Bound together by the omnipresent atmosphere. Mostly grimm, cold yet somehow melancholic. ANTLERS create this intense feeling by arranging all instruments in a very sophisticated manner. In one moment furiously blasting with more or less reduced riffs and playful and slow paced in the very next turn of a song. In those slower passages all instruments seize the possibility to expand. Starting with very subtile but decent bass lines to epic guitar solos or massive interwoven harmonies.

Next to surprising turns within the songs, the slower passages have great developments. Starting with faster paced doublebass, more harmonies and leads, that push the progress to another limit, or subtle breaks. ANTLERS get their songs as exciting as the whole album is in total.

If you are not familiar with this awesome band from Leipzig, Germany, yet just go ahead and listen to “A Gaze Into The Abyss” on bandcamp. It is a fantastic record, full of great harmonies and sad atmosphere. Over the two years since its release I still enjoy this album on a regular basis. I just have to recommend it to all fans of intense and atmospheric black metal.

As said before: Get your copy on CD and LP via Vendetta. And if you prefer your music digitally, you can get it for a humble fee from both the bands and the labels bandcamp-profile.

]]>The Great Old Ones - EOD: A Tale Of Dark Legacyhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/great-old-ones-eod-tale-dark-legacy/
Mon, 13 Feb 2017 23:06:06 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/great-old-ones-eod-tale-dark-legacy/
H.P. Lovecraft was one of the most important writers of fantastic and horrifoc literature, if not the most important. His work was influential to many artists, from other authors to film makers and of course musicians. Although there are examples of his influence outside of metal, most of his followers are in the extreme variations of heavy metal. One of the recent apostles of Lovecraft are THE GREAT OLD ONES from France - their band name might indicate this circumstance&hellip; With their recent album &ldquo;EOD: A Tale Of Dark Legacy&rdquo; they made their debut on Seasons Of Mist, presenting their elaborated mixture of epic orchestration, traditional style and approach to post-black metal to a wider audience.
Read More…<![CDATA[

H.P. Lovecraft was one of the most important writers of fantastic and horrifoc literature, if not the most important. His work was influential to many artists, from other authors to film makers and of course musicians. Although there are examples of his influence outside of metal, most of his followers are in the extreme variations of heavy metal. One of the recent apostles of Lovecraft are THE GREAT OLD ONES from France - their band name might indicate this circumstance…
With their recent album “EOD: A Tale Of Dark Legacy” they made their debut on Seasons Of Mist, presenting their elaborated mixture of epic orchestration, traditional style and approach to post-black metal to a wider audience. A great step after “Tekeli-li” that already had some effect on me.

Over almost 45 minutes running time, THE GREAT OLD ONES show an impressive mature vision of contemporary black metal. There are no typical moments of shoegaze that many other post-black metal bands exploit. Most of the time “EOD” is relatively straight forward, working with subtile variations that make the sound interesting. Harmonies that sometimes are close to the circus-esque obscurity of Dark Funeral, extremely well arranged keyboards that range from shy background support to leading melodies. And on the other hand there are many moments when THE GREAT OLD ONES give their songs some more space, incorporating slight influences of more progressive rock/metal.

Especially those moments when the (fretless?) bass plays some very interesting lines, there are some reminiscence to Obscura, meanwhile other epic parts remind me a bit of Sulphur Aeon. But those similarities are more based on the vibe and attitude than in the overall sound. “EOD” is still a black metal album and not a death metal record. Just take the epic “Mare Infinitum” where reduced and minimalist riffs build a monotonous atmosphere over the fast blastbeats. The more progressive parts and excellent orchestration are interesting decoration over the genre-typical matrix. Nevertheless it is a brillant song, maybe the strongest on “EOD”.

In this mixture of epic soundscapes, direct and catchy riffs and more progressive breakouts THE GREAT OLD ONES deliver an entertaining album. Although most songs exceed the eight minute mark, there are so many surprising changes that none of them becomes boring or lengthy. Enriched with some voice-samples from Lovecraft radio play this record really feels like a visit to Innsmouth, Arkham, R’lyeh or any other place that is essential for the Cthulhu-myth.

“A Tale Of Dark Legacy” is a gloomy, malicious audio story that perfectly fits to the lyrical theme of THE GREAT OLD ONES. It is an atmospheric record that plays with furious menace, fantastic and stellar spaces and the spirit of old, almost forgotten entities. Recommended, not only for fans of post-black metal or the Lovecraft universe.

]]>Emptiness - Not For Musichttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/emptiness-not-music/
Mon, 13 Feb 2017 21:05:38 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/emptiness-not-music/
EMPTINESS are a very unique band. Their minimalist and grotesque style is disturbing, bizare, reduced and creepy as hell. This makes the band both discomforting and hard to describe. Is it metal? Not in the ordinary concept of the genre. But for sure it has many elements that are deeply rooted in (black) metal. Just to incorporate further elements from wave, ambient or industrial into their absurd and unique sound.
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EMPTINESS are a very unique band. Their minimalist and grotesque style is disturbing, bizare, reduced and creepy as hell. This makes the band both discomforting and hard to describe. Is it metal? Not in the ordinary concept of the genre. But for sure it has many elements that are deeply rooted in (black) metal. Just to incorporate further elements from wave, ambient or industrial into their absurd and unique sound.

I really loved “Nothing But The Whole”, which was my first contact to the band to honest. But its reduced, disturbing yet hypnotic vibe caught from the very first moment. So I was curious, how EMPTINESS would develop on “Not For Music”. Although they made a consequent evolution, the first impression was surprising: The overall sound is more open, involves some wider harmonies and soundscapes. As mentioned before, there are more obvious moments of industrial and even elements of wave that put “Not For Music” to another level.

Best example for the expansion towards (synth-) wave is “Ever” that has a massive 80s touch and is still totally apocalyptic and bizarre on the other hand. Or “Digging The Sky” which takes elements of jazz, combining them with more metallic sounds, playing with dissonant harmonies and ritualistic vibes. Imagine some “Twin Peaks”-soundtrack weaving into blackgaze with dense atmosphere and you get “It Might Be”. And then there is “Let It Fall” that breaks everything up, dissolving all playful elements of the previous tracks in a harsh, noisy and totally dystopic collage.

But although EMPTINESS are more bizarre and discomforting than before, they still maintain some pushing drive, some kind of nasty groove. Some moments remind me of “Streetcleaner” by Godflesh or maybe the more modern approach by Gloom Warfare. Just to take another, unexpected turn only a few seconds later.

“Not For Music” is a gloomy, abstract, bizarre journey over 40 Minutes. It is a beauty in the dissonance. A fantastic unconventional record that baffles all description. “Not For Music” is not for narrow-minded metalheads, but for music lovers that seek for an unique approach on blended styles.

]]>Convulsing - Erratahttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/convulsing-errata/
Thu, 09 Feb 2017 22:28:28 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/convulsing-errata/
Australia / New Zealand has an amazing scene for refreshing new interpretations of death metal. Altars, Portal, Départe , all very unique ambassadors of an extreme and innovative form of death metal. The next band from Australia that totally fits into this line is CONVULSING from Sydney.
To be true, this band consists of only one member, Brendan Sloan, responsible for all instruments (including drum programming) and vocals. But his first output &ldquo;Errata&rdquo; is very outstanding and does not sound like a one-man project.
Read More…<![CDATA[

Australia / New Zealand has an amazing scene for refreshing new interpretations of death metal. Altars, Portal, Départe , all very unique ambassadors of an extreme and innovative form of death metal. The next band from Australia that totally fits into this line is CONVULSING from Sydney.

To be true, this band consists of only one member, Brendan Sloan, responsible for all instruments (including drum programming) and vocals. But his first output “Errata” is very outstanding and does not sound like a one-man project. It blends monotonous and nightmarish atmosphere of Portal with the obscure riffing by Altars, the avantgarde-thinking of Gorguts and the same mindset of Ulcerate to an extremely brillant mixture.

Over almost 50 Minutes there is no song that is nearly similar to the other ones. One moment is more simple, but nevertheless effective. The dark and discomforting atmosphere is omnipresent. Both in the more reduced and the more playful parts. There is no difference if Sloan plays more harmonic moments of Post-Rock that remember of Neurosis, the calm Moments of “Coloured Sands” by Gorguts or some ideas of Ulcerate or if he plays reduced, minimal yet grinding riffs in the vein of Portal on the other hand. “Errata” is always dark, gloomy and dense.

And on this generally high standard CONVULSING easily includes great hits as well. Starting with the more straight-forward “Severed Hemisphere” to the more dissonant and discomforting “Dis”, where quiet, almost whispered vocals add another layer to the versatile sound. The main theme of “Eleven Sigils” is really nasty but catchy. Same for the obscure riff of “Invocat” which is supplemented by post-rock, nice atmosphere and harmonies. And the ending song “Dragged” kills again with more reduced but totally nightmarish guitars.

So in a nutshell “Errata” is a great album in complete. But the greatest tracks are on the second half of this record. This includes the totally awesome cover of Porcupine Tree’s “The Sky Moves Sideways”. The combination of clear and calm vocals over post-rock with harsh and pushing death metal is just outstanding and fits into “Errata” as if it was written for this record only. I’m really impressed.

In this mixture of Post-Death Metal, Doom, Post-Rock with dissonant and nightmarish atmosphere, CONVULSING delivered an awesome debut. It is discomforting and innovative, incorporating beautiful and catchy elements as well. It seems that Australia/New Zealand maintain to be the most important spot for the future development of extreme music. I hope Sloan continues with CONVULSING and serves another record in near future.

]]>Gloom Sleeper - A Voidhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/gloom-sleeper-void/
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 22:58:55 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/gloom-sleeper-void/
Usually I like my post-punk dark and dystopic. Beginning with the nihilistic early style of the genre by Joy Division to the more apocalyptic vibe of recent Extinction Of Mankind or even blended with other genres, resulting in the &ldquo;gloomcore&rdquo; of Planks for instance. Nevertheless GLOOM SLEEPER hit me from the beginning with their nowadays unusual interpretation of this style. Their first demo was melancholic Punk-Rock. Their influences reached from melodic punk of the mid-90s to the roots of post-punk.
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Usually I like my post-punk dark and dystopic. Beginning with the nihilistic early style of the genre by Joy Division to the more apocalyptic vibe of recent Extinction Of Mankind or even blended with other genres, resulting in the “gloomcore” of Planks for instance. Nevertheless GLOOM SLEEPER hit me from the beginning with their nowadays unusual interpretation of this style. Their first demo was melancholic Punk-Rock. Their influences reached from melodic punk of the mid-90s to the roots of post-punk. Full of emotions, with driving vibes and playful harmonies.

“A Void” took those influences and brings GLOOM SLEEPER to another level of awesomeness. All known elements were developed to the next level, bringing more influences and variations to the music. And the addition of fantastic Hammond organs extend the sound to an outstanding mixture.

With this wide palette of ingredients “A Void” is a versatile record. From noisy garage rock like early Nirvana to more minimalist and gloomy post-punk tracks in the vein of Joy Division to more playful The Smiths-styled moments, this album has huge variations. Incorporating some moments of melodic punk rock as well as subtile support of the Hammond organ / keyboards creates a very unique style for GLOOM SLEEPER.

Starting with a pushing drive, “The Black Side” combines most elements of “A Void”s sound. Followed by a more noisy number it takes a surprising turn with the more melancholic and calm “Like Ghosts”. But the strong refrain sticks to the ear and the development of this track catches the listener easily. This is the moment when the record starts do unfold and shows all of its potential. Elements from Joy Division meet The Smiths, or early Nirvana in the following tracks, just to take another turn on “Conspiracy”. This is a really great, gloomy track whose lyrics could be written by Morrissey.
And other turnarounds follow for the rest of “A Void” as well.

Where some moments seem to be reduced and minimalist post-punk the other moment shows how playful all instruments complement each other. Great guitar lines meet strong bass play, everything gets support by decent keyboards and finds its foundation in straight but very intelligent drumming. On some tracks the vocals have some background support. Sometimes more subtile, in other moments in Nirvana-like exchange between the melodic voice and some harsher vocals.

Although I mentioned many references more than once, the mixture delivered by GLOOM SLEEPER is more than the reminiscences of old bands. They have a very own profile and stand out between many other bands. The more I listen to “A Void”, the more I like this record. Each song has his own vibe but still maintains this special feeling that defines “A Void”. So if you’re looking for post-punk with this special twist and individual ideas, check this record out.

It is available digitally (even as “free” pay-what-you-want), on tape via Colossus Tapes and as LP from Per Koro Records.

]]>In The Woods... - Purehttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/in-the-woods-pure/
Sun, 05 Feb 2017 22:05:09 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/in-the-woods-pure/
IN THE WOODS&hellip; exits for a while. But frankly, I never spend my attention to them. Maybe because they haven&rsquo;t released a new album in the last 17 years. But after a recommendation from a friend, I listened to &ldquo;Pure&rdquo;. It took me some time to get into the records, but now I&rsquo;m quite fond of it.
&ldquo;Pure&rdquo; is hard to describe. There are many moments that are really catchy, almost cheesy.
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IN THE WOODS… exits for a while. But frankly, I never spend my attention to them. Maybe because they haven’t released a new album in the last 17 years. But after a recommendation from a friend, I listened to “Pure”. It took me some time to get into the records, but now I’m quite fond of it.

“Pure” is hard to describe. There are many moments that are really catchy, almost cheesy. Some riffs and melodies are straight forward and even some repetitions and stuctures seem to fit into a typical metal schema. But on the other hand IN THE WOODS… embrace quite outstanding aspects. The overall picture does not fit into a straight genre-drawer.

Corporating straight and rocking ideas with decent keyboards and emotional vocals, some parts of “Pure” remind me a little bit of late Woods Of Ypres. Some other moments are more progressive, evolve single themes of a song in interesting way. Those passages offer parallels to late Borknagar, even when those are still more complex and maybe more keyboard-driven. But only a few moments later IN THE WOODS… move into a much slower area, involving heavy and emotional doom into their sound.

All those elements make “Pure” a diverse and versatile record. Catchy and pushing songs meet with more gloomy ones. Just to take a turn and surprise with more melodic (death) metal (“Devi’s At The Door”) or an instrumental interlude in “Transmission KRS”. Some numbers are more obvious hits like the title track or the phantastic “The Cave Of Dreams”. Other songs need some more time to develop their character. In this mix “Pure” might take some time to get into. But after a few spins I really enjoyed this diverse style. So take your time, get into this record and enjoy over an hour of catching doomy music.

]]>Ultha - Converging Sinshttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/ultha-converging-sins/
Tue, 24 Jan 2017 23:48:43 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/ultha-converging-sins/
Although ULTHA already announced their second album for end of 2016, it was released all of a sudden. No big countdown, no leaked details in advance. That&rsquo;s one thing I really like about the band: No big words, the deeds speak for themself. Nevertheless I was quite surprised about the release of &ldquo;Converging Sins&rdquo; - an had to immediately download the record via bandcamp.
Since both the debut &ldquo;Pain Cleanses Every Doubt&rdquo; and the &ldquo;Dismal Ruins&rdquo; were absolute killers, it is no wonder that the second full-length of this band is phantastic as well.
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Although ULTHA already announced their second album for end of 2016, it was released all of a sudden. No big countdown, no leaked details in advance. That’s one thing I really like about the band: No big words, the deeds speak for themself. Nevertheless I was quite surprised about the release of “Converging Sins” - an had to immediately download the record via bandcamp.

Since both the debut “Pain Cleanses Every Doubt” and the “Dismal Ruins” were absolute killers, it is no wonder that the second full-length of this band is phantastic as well. However I was still overwhelmed by the developement ULTHA made from their previous releases - admitting that I don’t know their common split EP with Morast, which contains cover-songs of Bathoryonly. But nevermind that little tribute and let’s concentrate on the newvery own material of ULTHA.

In the first impression there is no such killer riffing on “Converging Sins” like the opening theme of “Crystalline Pyre” offered. But on the other hand there are many small details that make this new album outstanding. If you a looking for another hit like the named song from the first album, just listen to “Fear Lights The Path”. It is an almost 17 minutes long proto-song, riding on reduced, monotonous riffing, interlacing a great melody that sticks to the ear. Furthermore the exchange of high pitched vocals and harsh shouts adds variety to the track as well as the slowed down passages that are supported by epical keyboards.

But that’s just the one logical continuation of “Pain Cleanes Every Doubt” on “Converging Sins”. The rest is an incredible development in the style of ULTHA that makes them outstanding within the German black metal scene. At first you might think “You Will Learn About Loss” sounds like another repetitive proto-band, imagine early Blut Aus Nord. But the addition of keyboards and choral vocals change the whole attitude more towards a really simplified The Ruins Of Beverast number.

Or the epic opener “The Night Took Her Right Before My Eyes” combines the whole development of ULTHA over a running time of almost 18 minutes. Gloomy guitars that evolve further and further, climaxing with shoegaze-eske soundscapes, just to burst into blastbeats and grimm riffing. Monotonous instrumentation on the traditional guitar, bass, drums trio meets epical keyboards, that add some hopeful atmosphere. The vocals beginn calmly whispered and end in the typical alternation of high pitched, hysterical screams and hatefull shouts that are well known from ULTHA. Throughout the song the individual musical themes are repeated and varied, creating memorability and develope the track over the whole running time.

“Mirrows In A Black Room” is the most impressive song on this album. This number is totally atypical for the band. But this rude shear in style is the best example of how ULTHA evolved as well. It starts calm, fragile. With Post-Punk styled guitars that might have fit more to Planks, the bleached old band from guitar-player Ralph. Suddenly phantastic femal vocals set in. They were contributed by Rachel Davies from Esben And The Witch and add incredible value to the song. The interaction between female vocals and harsh screams creates just a phenomenal atmosphere. The developmend of the song itself just defies description.

In the mixture of reduced, repetitive riffs, epical soundscapes and unconventional ideas, ULTHA did an incredible job. Their second album just put them on another level. Showing how the band evolved on the one hand and creating a versatile and intense album on the other. I had a lot and almost no expectations in “Coverging Sins”. But ULTHA just blew me away with a real masterpiece. Highly recommended to all fans of open-minded black metal that looks beyond the edge of the table!

]]>Zhrine - Unorthetahttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/zhrine-unortheta/
Sun, 22 Jan 2017 22:58:20 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/reviews/2017/zhrine-unortheta/
Islandic music is alway interesting, somehow different from the rest of the world. Just take a look on the best know act Bjørk or the more known Sólstafir or Sigur Rós. But even when it comes to more extreme music, especially black metal, Island is still a great source for special sounds. Just think about Svartidauði, Naðra or Misþyrming. So it&rsquo;s not a suprise that there is some interesting new act in death metal as well.
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Islandic music is alway interesting, somehow different from the rest of the world. Just take a look on the best know act Bjørk or the more known Sólstafir or Sigur Rós. But even when it comes to more extreme music, especially black metal, Island is still a great source for special sounds. Just think about Svartidauði, Naðra or Misþyrming. So it’s not a suprise that there is some interesting new act in death metal as well.

Well, ZHRINE are not a traditional death metal band. With Nökkvi from Svartidauði on guitars and some vocal duties, it is just logical that there are some influences from black metal as well. But the band takes it one step further, reaches for inspiration in great Australian bands: Ulcerate, Portal, Beyond Terror, Beyond Grace and maybe a little bit Departe.

On their first full-length “Unortheta” are many different aspects of (post-)modern extreme music blended into a brilliant mixture. There are moments of post-rock, bringing some hope, wide atmospheric carpets of sounds. But suddenly the songs might burst into minimalistic and nightmarish dissonance. Simplified riffing creates some catchy passages, just to confuse the audience with really challenging structures. You can never be sure which turn a song will take next. But thoses changes in tempo and dynamics never destroy the really dense atmosphere, gloomy, dissonant and baneful.

Beside of a great mixture of post-rock guitar walls, grinding blastbeats, pushing grooves and intense atmosphere, ZHRINE manage to blend further ingredients into their sound, establishing a very own style. The vocals between hatefull deep growls and agressive high pitched screams open up the songs. There are many passages of sound collages, creating some ambient vibe to combine some parts of a songs and each track to another. Sometimes other instruments are mixed into the sound. Different types of percussion and even some contrabass. Which leads to the great bass lines in some other passages.

Those experimental moments are blended into the overall sound of “Unortheta” in such a brilliant way that those never sound inappropriate. ZHRINE establish an intelligent approach on dark and extreme music beyond old fashioned ways. No wonder they already supported Ulcerate on their last tour.

“Unortheta” will be as important for the development of the young genre “post-death metal” as “The Destroyers Of All” or “Failure, Subside” will be. So keep an eye on this young band and listen to the stream on bandcamp. There is no filler on this album, only quality music with great ideas and phantastic atmosphere.

]]>MMXVII - A New Dawnhttps://thenocturnalsilence.de/post/2017/01/21/mmxvii-new-dawn/
Sat, 21 Jan 2017 22:01:26 +0000void@thenocturnalsilence.de (Christian G'hlen)https://thenocturnalsilence.de/post/2017/01/21/mmxvii-new-dawn/
Started in 2016 as a side project for gloomy and atmospheric music that did not match my other fanzine, I decided to focus more on TheNocturnalSilence.de in 2017.
The beginning was a completely new designed and written theme for this webzine. I think most work is finally done and there are only some minor tweaks left.
The next step was a tough decision. I&rsquo;ll switch from German to English for my reviews.
Read More…<![CDATA[

Started in 2016 as a side project for gloomy and atmospheric music that did not match my other fanzine, I decided to focus more on TheNocturnalSilence.de in 2017.

The beginning was a completely new designed and written theme for this webzine. I think most work is finally done and there are only some minor tweaks left.

The next step was a tough decision. I’ll switch from German to English for my reviews. After more than 13 years of running a German languaged fanzine, there was just time for something new. And on the other hand it might increase the audience for my humble opinions.

Impress

PR

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TheNocturnalSilence.de

I love beautiful melodies telling me terrible things. And I like terrible music making me feel comfortable. Finding beauty in the dissonance, for only a black heart will find beauty in darkness.
My site, my opinion. You do not have to like it.

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Since April 2018, the Logo of TheNocturnalSilence was created by Tobias Lennartz.
All credits for used artworks and band pictures belongs to the bands, record companies, photographers. All was just used for promotional purpose.

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